HK actor Joseph Lee Kwok Lun regrets sending dad to nursing home, cries after each visit

Hong Kong actor Joseph Lee Kwok Lun regrets placing his father in a nursing home. Photo: Joseph Lee Kwok Lun/Weibo

Hong Kong actor Joseph Lee Kwok Lun is feeling guilty about sending his father to a nursing home, HK01 reported.

In a recent interview with the Hong Kong news outlet, Lee disclosed that his father suffered from cerebral atrophy in his later years.

However, the TVB star failed to grasp the severity of his father's condition at the time and decided to put the latter in a nursing home.

"I didn't make an effort to understand (my dad's) condition well and even blamed him for it. But in reality, he was ill and he himself didn't know what he was doing," the 68-year-old said.

According to the National Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke, cerebral atrophy refers to "the loss of nerve cells and the connections that help them communicate in the brain's tissues".

Symptoms include dementia, difficulty communicating, loss of coordination and disturbances in speaking and understanding language.

Lee revealed that his father would have episodes in the night, collecting items belonging to other residents at the nursing home. On one occasion, he took someone's shoes and brought them to the police station.

Moreover, his father engaged in physical altercations with other residents. He had to be restrained with a straitjacket.

"My heart ached when I saw him in a straitjacket with his feet tied ... I would hide and cry after each visit as I was afraid of letting my wife and daughter (see my distress)," he said.

Lee made his acting debut in 1975 and has since secured multiple roles in dramas like Beyond The Realm Of Conscience (2009), Forensic Heroes III (2011) and The Ringmaster (2021). Lee told HK01 that his father raised him with strict values and disapproved of his choice to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.

Lee was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor and Most Popular Male Character categories at the TVB Awards Presentation 2022 for his performance in the 2022 crime series Against Darkness.

Lee, who married in 1997, has a 21-year-old daughter.