Gigi Lai Announced Retirement from Entertainment Industry

Source: on.cc
Translation: Squirt88 @ http://asianfanatics.net

When Gigi attended the promotional function for her series, she unexpectedly announced retirement from the entertainment industry to focus on taking care of her brother who was seriously injured in a car accident last year. Gigi expressed that she has thought about this decision for a long time. She cried when saying these, as she is sad to be leaving behind her long acting career.

Gigi said that the new TVB series "The Gem of Life" will be the last of her work, a farewell series to the entertainment industry.

-------

Source: Sina
Translation: Sunnysnow @ Spcnet Forums
Credit: Kenix @AEU



Gigi Lai announces her retirement from the entertainment industry. Bids those who have supported farewell.

TVB grand production "Gem of Life" debuts in Hong Kong tonight. While promoting the series with her colleagues, Gigi suddenly announced that she will be retiring from the entertainment industry, sparking stunned responses among those present. Unable to hold back her tears, Gigi thanked TVB for supporting her for the past 20 years, "This is the last time I will accept an interview, after tonight, I will be starting a new life."

Gigi revealed that she has been planning to retire over the past two years and the people around her have supported her decision. Her brother's accident changed her views of fame drastically. "The most important thing in life is not money, but the time you spend with your family. I entered the industry when I was only a teenager and have been in it for 29 years. Having tried everything from singing, acting in movies and dramas, I am thankful and satisfied with what I have achieved today."

Gigi admitted that she is not getting married but may plan to do so in the future. "The most important thing to me at present is to spend time with my family, take care of my brother and perhaps go back to school to study." she said. When the host asked her whether she is considering a full retirement, Gigi replied, "I am not going to take on any more commercials, attend any more award ceremonies, release any more albums or film any more shows. This will be the last time I am doing an interview."

When taking pictures with the cast at the end of the event, Gigi thanked everyone once again for all the help and support they gave. She added, "I am happy that I was able to film such a great production like "Gem of Life", everything was filmed with care and the script is good. Thank you for all support TVB, I want to thank every production team who has worked with me before, every actor who has worked with me before and every single one of my fans. I am forever a TVB artist."

This post has been edited by hippokathy88: Oct 21 2008 4 13 AM

Oh my goodness....
She won't be coming back any longer?

Its so noble and loving of her. My respect for her has really increased.


This post has been edited by Initial E: Oct 20 2008 4 36 PM

^ I feel the same way. It's quite surprising because she's as old as Charmaine and Charmaine hasn't retired yet. Not saying she should but .. >.<

This is sad! She is such a talented actress, but i respect her decision, as family comes first. Hopefully she'll do some shows now and then..

Can't wait to see Gem of LIfe!

Gigi was one of the last good actresses at tvb, now we're stuck with people like charmaine and linda.. I shudder just at the thought of charmaine helming 42412334521 series more than she does now.

i am not a big fan of gigi, but she is such a talented actress so she will be missed. i think it is kinda sad that she is leaving but ultimately she wants to spend more time taking care of her brother and i commend her for that.

This post has been edited by LTFan: Oct 20 2008 4 50 PM

So sad that she decides to leave the entertainment world and her acting career behind. She's gonna be missed.

As a fan of her, I feel sad to know she's leaving for good from Entertainment Industry. We will miss her a lot! But she's such a very good daughter and sister to her family.
Hopefully, we'll get to see Gigi's news once or twice after she's leaving the ent.

oh for real? I didn't like her in the past, but i guess i'll miss her.. after seeing charmaine in endless shows. sorry to her fans though.

her reason for retiring is good though.. she's gonna take care of her brother. maybe she'll come back to showbiz when her brother gets better

One more thing, I HOPE Gem Of Life would shine like how MR did. Since this is gonna be her last series.. GOOD LUCK!

She is really a good daughter and sister, indeed. Anyway, I still hope that this is just her temporary decision and she will reconsider it in a near future.

Gigi is retiring but I am sure it won't be long-term retirement..she'll probably comes back in 5 or 10 years from now...like all other actress who has retired but came out of retirement when the times is right...for Gigi, when her time is right, I am sure she would return back to acting since that was her passion and love...

Oh my goodness, such a waste. I love Gigi, and one of the main reasons why I love TVB is because of her! After hearing this, I was so shocked. But no matter what she does, I'll respect it God bless her. Hopefully she'll change her mind in the future XD

Really hope that you think is right. My passion for TVB would not be the same as it is without her.

What, Gigi is announcing retirement. That is so sad, which mean "The Gem of Life" may be the last series we will see Gigi in. I will really miss her.

omg...WOW...that is unexpected.
She cares for her brother alot so I see how she is willing to come to this decision.

All the best to her...and hopefully we can see her on screen again

This is really sad...Many will miss Gigi. she was a very versatile actress.

Gigi Lai Ends Her Acting Career: “‘Gem of Life’ is My Last Series”




As promotion for ‘Gem of Life’, the cast members Gigi Lai, Moses Chan, Ada Choi, Bowie Lam, etc, were invited as guests on “Scoop” to participate in a live interview. After footages of “Gem” were shown, Gigi made the announcement that she will not be filming anymore TV series.

She said: “I feel very happy to have filmed ‘Gem’, because this is a grand production and everything is done carefully, it also has a very good script. After filming this series, I have no more regrets, this is the last TV series of my acting career.” After the announcement, Gigi thanked the TVB staff and her fans for their continuing support, she was overcome with emotion and choked back tears.

Later on, she accepted interviews from reporters, saying “This is my last time I’m accepting an interview, ‘Gem’ is my last series before I leave the entertainment circle. Afterwards I want to do my own things, I will be running my brother’s business as well as taking care of my family.”

During the interview, Gigi was accompanied by good friend Ada, she wiped away her tears several times with a tissue. Gigi said the reasons for leaving were because she needed to look after her brother’s business and her family, asked if she is getting married? But she quickly denied this. She added “Whether or not TVB and I have a contract, I will be part of TVB for the rest of my life.” (When did you make this decision?) “Since I was filming ‘Gem’ too many things happened, when you film a series you have responsibilities, but there were too much inconvenience. Now that the promotions are done and the series has aired, I feel it is the right time to make the announcement.”


Entering the entertainment business at the age of 15, Gigi has more than 20 years of experience in singing, filming TV series and movies. She has no more regrets; “Life has come to this stage when you reach 30 or 40 years old, you want to give more time to do other things, such as return to school to study, take care of your family, or to manage business." Gigi stressed that in the entertainment business she has no regrets, because she has a lot of people around who love her.

Later, Gigi made a prayer: "Thank you all for your patience, concern and support, I’m really grateful. This is the last TV series of my career and I have nothing to regret. I would like to thank TVB, all the producers I have worked with, each of the actors I collaborated with, and I would like to thank the fans. To me, this series has a lot of commemorative value. "

Sources: The Sun & Singtao

i was really surprised when i read this! But i understand her reason of retirement.
It's still sad to hear that she's quit the entertainment circle.
Hope her brother will be ok! May God bless you Gigi and your brother!

aww...it's sad to hear that Gigi is retiring from filming and leaving the entertainment industry...even though she started out as a young child she made some impressive breakthroughs...it's okay i understand why she is doing this but best wishes to her other life that she's been wanting to do for so long and i hope that she will be happy and enjoying the things in life...i hope her brother will recover in good time and Gigi is one great sister to have...

It was a suprise move from her to end her TVB career..the accident of her brother really take the toll her shoulder...

omg i really love her acting.. she is one of de best actress around..maybe she cannot take de backstabbing of de entertainment circle

Oh no... I didn't see that coming... T_T But I respect her decision. Family must come first.

Gigi, you will be greatly missed.

Heh, She's probably semi-retirement and she still accepting advertising jobs. Although it is a good reason she need to take care of her brother and her family business during her family crisis. She will still be part of the entertainment circle.

thats sad. it is always good to have more actresses so we dont get tired of the overpromoted actors/actresses.

i thought there were rumors of 1 more series a huge production or something... i guess family comes first, were gonna loose a huge actress here..

This is really sad, I don't want that she leave TVB, but her reason is good enough, anyway, I always support her.

I agree with most of you, Gigi is one of the best actresses around at this moment. Her decision to leave the entertainment industry does does have some impacts on TVB and their plans next year.

wow!!

well, it's good that she can leave showbiz for those reasons. it's good to leave while you're still young and do things you've always wanted to do...

good luck to gigi!!

She will definitely be missed. Luckily we'll get to see her last performance in The Gem of Life.

That's definitely a loss for TVB and the audience but I do understand her situation. Family should come first...taking care of her brother is more important now. Wish her success with whatever she will do in the future.

I want to cry when I see this article ... I really love Gigi and have watched all her series for over 10 yrs now. I don't think any new actresses now can compare to her, just like those TVB series now can't be as good as the old ones..
Well, it's very hard for us to say goodbye to her!!! But it's even much harder for her to quit acting. I support her for whatever decision she made cuz it's good for her. She still has her family and others things she wants to do as she's still young now. If she stick to TV, she may regret it later.
I kinda knew this eventually would come, but I was hoping she could sometimes come back to TV. Now I can only hope best of best wishes to her!

I really like her acting and she is pretty!! however I respect her decision as she made that decision for the sake of her family .. I'm respecting her even more, instead of fame and money she chose her family over!! We''ll see you soon gigi

Gigi, best of luck to you and your family. You have given us all these great series and am looking forward to your performance in The Gem of Life.

It's so sad that her brother got into such a fatal accident, but best of luck to him and his recovery. Hopefully Gigi will come back in a few years like other actors and actresses. Very sad news to hear her announce her retirement.

Acting must have taken a backseat to her family situation so this decision is understandable. Anyway in the future if there's a good script and she feels ready i'm sure she'll be back.

wow i just looked up her IMDB entry...did not know she has famous relatives in film business, in early silent movies! since i love and own some of the Chinese silents (but haven't found time to watch them), it'll be fun to spot her relatives.
i do hope she comes back when there's a good role

oh my god! gigi is retiring from showbiz? i'm really shocked.. i don't know what to say. gigi was one of the few TVB actresses i truly respected & adored. her acting was as flawless as her beautiful face. it's really our loss for not being able to see this talented actress gracing our tv screens anymore. good luck gigi! hope you make a comeback soon!

The best of luck to Gigi and her family. Hopefully her brother will make a full recovery soon. Well GOL is the best way to go out. Hopefully she will come back in the future.

That is too bad, I am going to miss her great acting. Because of her departure, I will really concentrate on the new series.