Jeanette Aw (left) invited Cynthia Koh in the latest episode of of her YouTube show JA Unscripted uploaded on Aug 31. Photo: Jeanette Aw/Instagram
Singaporean actress Jeanette Aw recalled being sexually harassed in an incident which took place more than 20 years ago.
In the latest episode of her YouTube show JA Unscripted uploaded on Aug 31, she invited fellow actress Cynthia Koh, her co-star in the long-running drama Holland V (2003), on the show for a baking challenge.
Aw, 46, runs her patisserie, Once Upon A Time, and is also the co-host and judge of local reality baking competition show Creme De La Creme in 2021 and 2024.
She said at the beginning of the episode that she still addresses Koh, 51, as “Third Sis” since their Holland V days.
In the TV series revolving around the Mo family operating a nasi lemak cafe in Holland Village, Aw played Mo Jingjing, the fourth sister, while Koh portrayed Mo Yanyan, the third sister.
“The incident about Third Sis that left the deepest impression on me was when we went out to eat with Second Sis (played by Patricia Mok),” Aw related.
“We then proceeded to another place to have a drink. Third Sis and Second Sis were walking in front of me.
She continued: “There was a foreigner inside, who grabbed my hand and pulled me over. He was watching some porn video and pulled me over to watch. I went back and told Third Sis and Second Sis.”
Aw did not disclose where the incident took place or the nationality of the man, but she used the Chinese word “yangren”, which could also mean a westerner or Caucasian.
“Third Sis then stood up, walked over to the foreigner and said, ‘I tell you, don’t ever do this kind of thing to my sister again’. I felt then, wow, I have a very protective sister.”
Aw said the foreigner did the same thing to another customer and the police later arrived on the scene.
A person who was offscreen during the taping of the episode then asked Koh: “As you were looking at the foreigner being taken away by the police, you forgot what you did? You were looking at the foreigner and said, ‘Good. Orbi good (‘serves you right’ in Singlish).’”
Both Aw and Koh laughed, and Aw said: “I have an impression of that too. And he was taken away by the police.”
Koh then recalled a similar incident happening to her many years ago.
“Once, in the old Zouk, a guy touched my butt,“ she said, referring to the local nightclub’s Jiak Kim Street premises which it vacated in 2016. “I grabbed his hand, turned it around, and said: ‘Say sorry now. If you don’t say sorry, I call security.’”
Koh said the man apologised profusely.
Koh, who won her first Best Supporting Actress accolade for her role in TV series Hope Afloat (2024) at the Star Awards in July and is a certified sound therapy practitioner, went on to talk about how she has been focusing on her sound healing sessions.
“The interesting part about the practice is that you get to understand different situations,” she said, adding that she has helped elderly people with dementia and patients suffering from cancer.
“When cancer patients come (to my sessions), they understand that sometimes it’s not only about the disease, but it’s also their state of mind,” she said. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
