The stories of the beloved Hong Kong star Linda Chung

The pageant is called Miss Chinese International Pageant and Linda Chung won the 2004 iteration held in Vancouver, Canada. Other recognisable alumni from said pageant include fellow actors Fala Chen, Bernice Liu and Sonija Kwok. Meanwhile, Cheryl Wee and Denise Camillia Tan are local names who also participated in the pageant.

The same year, in 2004, Linda Chung signed with Hong Kong television broadcaster TVB and made her debut in Virtues of Harmony II (2004).  Her hard work and talent quickly got her recognised, both in the industry and among viewers, as she grew meteorically in popularity.

Some of the notable productions she was in included Forensic Heroes (2006), Heart of Greed (2007), Moonlight Resonance (2008), Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir! (2011), Brother's Keeper (2013) and Kids' Lives Matter (2021).

In addition, Linda has also garnered countless popularity awards and acting nominations, solidly placing her among the A-list celebs in Hong Kong with recognition across East and Southeast Asia.

In 2018, Linda Chung made headlines when she announced that she was parting ways with TVB after working with them for 13 years.

In 2022, she returned for Kids' Lives Matters then later stated in an interview that she "may never return" to the Hong Kong TV station.

That said, this doesn't mean that Linda's popularity is waning. In 2022, she clinched the award for Malaysia's Favourite TVB Actress despite losing out (again) for the Best Actress win (for which she has been nominated for eight times).

She was bullied on set in the past

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ICYDK, Linda Chung has her own YouTube channel where you can keep up with her. And in one of the videos (above) dating back to May 2022, Linda opened up about her experience of being bullied on set while she was with TVB. "I have met people in the past who made me feel hurt and lose confidence in myself, and even gave me the feeling of being bullied."

She added that she felt troubled by the bullies and later learnt that the best way to deal with them was to "do nothing" as by not engaging and ignoring them, you might make them lose interest in you.

In 2015, Linda Chung shocked fans when she announced that she got married after a whirlwind romance of 10 months. Her husband is called Jeremy Leung, a chiropractor who is 13 years her senior. He is reported to be the nephew of the TVB chairman Norman Leung and resides in Vancouver, where he has his own chiropractic clinic.

Not much else is known about him except that he is extremely shy. Nevertheless, the couple looks loving and happy. As a result of the marriage, Linda is also now based in the Canadian city.

They have three kids together

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In October 2022, Linda Chung and Jeremy Leung welcomed their third child, a girl, together named Anika Linda Leung. The couple has two older children named Kelly and Jared.

In a YouTube video posted to her channel, Linda shared her painful birth experience with Kelly. She was, firstly, too dilated to get an epidural. And shortly after delivering the baby, blood gushed out when she tried to relieve herself in the bathroom. Fortunately, she didn't need to undergo emergency surgery and just had to be monitored.

She doesn't hide her children

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Celebrity moms tend to be split into two camps. One wants to maintain privacy and keep their children hidden from public view, while the other is open to it. Linda Chung belongs to the latter, as she revealed.

"There is no point over strategising or overanalysing what will happen to my kids if I were to place them in the spotlight. People are going to know that I'm their mother when I take them to school in the future. There is no way and no need to hide."

That is why you will see her children appear across her social media. She even made a song (above) to "express her unconditional love for her (then) two children."

With her meteoric rise comes immense pressure. That pressure, which came from a packed schedule and the demands of being a celebrity, combined with the loneliness of being alone and far from home (she was born in Canada), led to Linda Chung dealing with depression.

She shared in a talk her personal struggles, such as when she almost had an emotional breakdown filming Virtues of Harmony II. "I didn’t know anything so I had a lot of pressure. I was also afraid to talk to someone about it, especially those close to me. During that time, I would cry as soon as I returned home."

Linda later managed to find a way to calm herself down and adjust - by shutting her eyes, lifting her arms and shouting, "I can do it!".

Linda Chung's star power is evident as she was able to earn enough to buy a 56 sqm unit in the Tseung Kwan O district just two years after winning the pageant. The once-highest-paid TVB actress was also reported to earn about S$35,000 for a one-hour event appearance in 2016. This rose from the S$21,000 she used to command when she was single.

In all, Linda Chung is estimated to own over S$6 million worth of properties in Hong Kong and Canada.

In 2005, Linda Chung and Shirley Yeung had to run and hide for their lives in Panyu, China. Calling the attack "a mystery", the two stars left a karaoke bar around 1 am when over a dozen men appeared with machetes.

They ran and found a pit near a garbage dump, hiding in it with rubbish to cover themselves. Linda and Shirley then hid in the pit until they were found by their assistants. Linda added that she "had post-traumatic stress after that", as Shirley concurred, saying, "It was the closest I came to death. I'm so thankful for Linda. We're life-and-death friends."