8 Days - November 02, 2017

8 DAYS | 19

STORY JOCELYN LEE

CALVERT TAY

“I was made fun of in primary

school ’cos I was fat, not ’cos of

my famous parents. I was tipping

the scales at close to 90kg, and

was seen as an outcast by my

friends. They always teased me,

saying things like: ‘Why are you

like that? Why are you so fat?’ In

school, I had a total of one friend

(laughs). The bullying and teasing

eventually went away after I lost

weight when I joined basketball.”

JOANNA THENG

“When I was in primary school,

I was very small-sized and was

picked on by my classmates.

They carried me by my hands

and legs, swung me from side

to side, and threatened to throw

me off the second storey of my

school building. It was quite

bad and my parents even came

to school. That was my most

traumatic experience.”

ZONG ZIJIE

“I was picked on by the seniors

in school when I was 13 ’cos

they recognised me from my first

drama My School Daze (2009).

They said things like: ‘You think

you’re very famous?’, pushed me

against the wall and called me

names. I didn’t fight back even

though I was really angry ’cos I

was very small-sized back then.

It would be a different story now

(guffaws) .”

Chantalle Ng
“I wasn’t really bullied in school
but it makes me frustrated
and upset when people keep
commenting that we got our
roles in this drama ’cos of our
parents. We practised really hard
and went for auditions just like
everyone else, so I hope we get
recognised for our efforts too.
It’s not unexpected to see these
comments but they still get to me.”

MARCUS GUO

“I had a relatively normal

childhood, probably ’cos not

many people know that my dad

is Guo Liang (laughs). I did get

teased by some of my friends

though. They said things like: ‘Eh

your dad is Guo Liang, why isn’t

your Mandarin as good as his?’,

or ‘You didn’t do your homework?

We’ll complain to Guo Liang!’

It’s all in good fun though, and I

wasn’t offended (smiles) .”

Denise Tan

“I was like the da jie da

(big sister) in school, so no

one dared to bully me. A

guy once pulled my pigtail

in primary school so I

yanked his hair really hard

in retaliation and made him

cry! (Laughs)”

While We Are Young premieres

Nov 6, 9pm on Ch 8.