Zee Avi tied the knot officially with her Japanese husband Kenji Matano on Nov 22 in a simple ceremony at her family home in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. Though not much had been revealed about her other half at the time, the artiste is finally ready to introduce him to her fans.
During a press conference on Friday (Nov 26), Zee shared some details about her relationship: "Kenji and I have known each other for about three years now. During my birthday last year, he proposed to me privately. My family wasn't even there."
Matano, 41, was born and raised in Tokyo and has been in Malaysia for about four years, working as an IT analyst. Zee, 35, made it a point to remind everyone on the correct spelling of her husband's family name. "We've seen many typos recently on his name, people have written Makano but it's actually Matano," she corrected.
When asked what made her choose him, Zee was quick to respond, saying: "He chose me!"
On a more serious note, the singer shared that he was someone who understood her lifestyle as an artiste and is supportive of her career. "Most of all, he's like a friend who is always by my side ... He brings out the best in me and that's the best that I could ask for," she added.
Matano is also accustomed to eating Malaysian food, especially sambal belacan. Zee disclosed that she made sure to introduce him to the dish during the early days of their courtship.
The Bitter Heart singer recalled first meeting him at a friend's event in 2018. At the time, Matano had no idea she was a popular singer. "On that night while we were all gathered around, suddenly there was a ukulele in my hand and people were like, 'play Kantoi!' so I did," she said, referring to her 2009 hit.
When she asked him what he thought of the song, Matano replied with, "Oh, famous person" after realising that everyone at the event knew the lyrics to the song. Zee was thankful he did not know who she was as she considered it an opportunity for him to know her as a person. Matano only started researching about Zee's career after they got to know each other.
On what's next for the couple, Zee hopes to have her honeymoon in Tokyo and meet up with her in-laws. "We were planning to go to Japan next year but forgot about quarantine entirely! So we have to do a little more planning on that," said the singer.
The couple have also started to discuss financial planning for their future children. When asked when they are planning to have kids, Zee said that they are just "going with the flow".
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