Hong Ling and Nick Teo reveal miscarriage months after losing her mum to cancer
Jan Lee
The Straits Times
May 12, 2025
It may have been a day of carnations and celebratory lunches for many families, but for local celebrity couple Hong Ling and Nick Teo, Mother's Day was a sombre occasion.
In an Instagram post made by Hong on May 11, the couple revealed that they recently suffered a miscarriage. The post was accompanied by a video filmed during happier times - of Hong, 30, surprising her actor-husband Teo, 35, with news of her pregnancy.
The couple married in December 2023.
The video, rendered in black and white, showed them in a loving embrace and Teo shedding tears of joy after he saw Hong's positive pregnancy test result.
The couple happily showed the test result, and a romper for a newborn which said "Fresh from Heaven", to their cats. There was also a close-up of an ultrasound scan, which was dated Feb 11.
Hong did not reveal when she suffered the miscarriage.
The news came as a double blow to the actress, who had recently lost her Thai mother Kaewsoda Kesorn to cancer on Feb 23. Madam Kaewsoda was 52.
The Your World In Mine (2022) star said she and Teo kept the news secret for some time as they were afraid of sharing their loss, and that made them feel even lonelier.
She wrote: "As Mother's Day approaches, my heart feels an unbearable ache. Never in my darkest dreams did I imagine experiencing such immense pain, losing both my beloved mum and my precious baby earlier this year.
"These nights are difficult, (I) often end up crying myself to sleep. My faith was shaken, I was overwhelmed by grief. We let fear stop us from sharing and carried the loss in silence. Every conversation about children pierced through our hearts. Behind forced smiles, it was the loneliest thing we have ever done."
Hong, who is a Christian, added that though she "still can't see the light", her faith would tide her over this challenging period.
The couple's celebrity friends, such as Teo's co-stars in the recent hit series Emerald Hill - The Little Nyonya Story (2025), left comments encouraging them and expressing their condolences.
Zhang Zetong wrote: "Sorry for what you two have been going through."
Chantalle Ng added: "I didn't know you were going through so much, please take care."
Another family commemorating a difficult Mother's Day are the loved ones of the late Taiwanese star Barbie Hsu, who died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while holidaying in Japan in February.
Barbie's mother Huang Chun-mei posted a photo of the family celebrating Mother's Day in a restaurant on May 11, marking the first time the family had been seen publicly in a photo since the star's death.
In it, Barbie's younger sister, Taiwanese talk-show host Dee Hsu, as well as Barbie's older sister, who is not a celebrity, are standing behind their mother as she holds a bouquet of flowers. Dee's husband, businessman Mike Hsu, and one of her three daughters, Lily, as well as Barbie's husband, South Korean musician Koo Jun-yup, were also in the picture.
Madam Huang, 70, wrote in the caption: "Although Mother's Day this year makes my heart ache and my son-in-law Koo Jun-yup is losing weight because he misses Barbie so much, I still have my other son-in-law Mike and two filial daughters."
She added that Dee had asked a colleague to create an artificial intelligence clip of Barbie wishing her happy Mother's Day.
"I will be strong, even if I cannot do it right now. But I believe that with time, I will get better and better," she wrote.
On May 9, Dee Hsu started a social media hashtag on her Instagram account, encouraging celebrity friends and netizens to post kind words, like what they miss most about Barbie, in an attempt to cheer up her mother.
Stars such as Dee's talk-show co-host Kevin Tsai, indie band Sodagreen's frontman Wu Ching-feng and singer Christine Fan responded to the call.
