Hong Kong actress Ada Choi revealed that her husband, Chinese actor Max Zhang, suffered a heart attack while the family was vacationing in Singapore.
Zhang disclosed in the first episode of Chinese reality show Call Me By Fire 2025, released on Aug 9, that he almost died while he was overseas with his family on April 17.
“I felt pain, had difficulty breathing and was covered in cold sweat,” Zhang told Korean-American singer-actor Lee Seung-hyun on the show about the incident. “I could not say anything at that time and felt like I was falling into an abyss.”
Zhang and Choi, both 51, married in 2008 and have three children aged five to 14. He is known for starring in martial arts films such as SPL II: A Time For Consequences (2015) and Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (2018).
Zhang recalled on the show that Choi and their children were about 10m away, and were about to board a duck boat for a tour. “I told myself I couldn’t die here as I was overseas,” he said. “I held on and told myself not to collapse.”
He saw a doctor soon after he returned to Hong Kong. The doctor told him he could have died during the heart attack, Zhang said.
Choi was asked about the incident while attending the lensing ceremony for TV drama Behind The Queens on Aug 17.
“He experienced two episodes of discomfort in March and went to see a doctor, who performed an electrocardiogram test,” Choi said. “The report showed that he was fine.”
She said the family then travelled to Singapore in April. “He suddenly couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t speak and had to sit down. I left him behind and proceeded with the duck tour, thinking he had caught a cold.”
Choi said she realised later that something was wrong when she returned and saw his face turning pale, although he said he felt fine after a while.
“While we chatted the next morning, he said tearfully that at the moment the day before, he was looking at the four of us and felt like he was about to pass out and might never see us again. He had to get back up and he did,” she recounted. “He cried while he was talking and I had never seen him like that before.”
Choi accompanied her husband for the health screening in Hong Kong. A computed tomography scan found that about 80% of his blood vessels were blocked, and he had to undergo an angioplasty to insert stents immediately.
“I felt so apologetic when I learnt about his condition and cried on my knees, wondering how I could be such a wife,” Choi said. “Knowing that we could be separated forever in an instant, I hugged him. I would have gone crazy if something had happened to him.”
She said the whole family has grown closer as a result of this incident and now pays more attention to exercise, adding that Zhang has also cut down on oily food.
“We have to count our blessings,” Choi said. “I almost became a widow, and he almost died in a foreign land.” – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
