“We’ve been homeless for a month… We slept pretty much under a bridge…” The characters’ lives we see on-screen are not necessarily a reflection of their actors’ lives off-screen

This girl’s father is known and loved by adults and children alike worldwide. However, there is one child who didn’t share this love—his own daughter. While her father enjoyed global fame, recognition, and wealth, this girl experienced financial struggles, leading her to sleep under a bridge and stand in line for free food just to get by.

In his book, “Never Grow Up,” this girl’s dad, an acclaimed actor, detailed his turbulent love life. The Hong Kong-born movie star married his one and only wife, a former Taiwanese actress, in 1982.

The couple welcomed their only child together, a son, on December 3, 1982. The same year he tied the knot and became a father, news broke that he had an affair.

It turned out that the girl’s actor dad had been cheating on his spouse with a former beauty queen. Consequently, their relationship produced a love child, a daughter, whom they welcomed on November 19, 1999.

The girl’s father revealed in his autobiography that the news of his infidelity caused mayhem as he had to figure out how to share the news with his wife. He wrote:

“When the news broke about an affair I’d had that resulted in a love child, the media frenzy was like a bomb going off. I wanted to phone Joan but didn’t know what to say. I wouldn’t be able to explain this. It wasn’t a mistake I could fix by saying, ‘I’m sorry.'”

The Hollywood star acknowledged that he had jeopardized his marriage, and by the look of things, he and his wife were heading for divorce. However, her reaction to the news was not what he expected.

The girl’s father called his wife, who at the time was at a remote location. Calm as she was, he asked her if she had seen the newspapers. She told him there was no need for an explanation and extended her support:

“I don’t want you to hurt her, and I don’t want her to hurt us. If you need me or our son to show up and stand by your side, we’ll do that. I know you must be feeling awful now. Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. You go deal with this.”

That candid conversation left the girl’s dad in tears, forcing him to look in the mirror for self-introspection. He expressed regret for shutting his wife out when she had been honest with him for years.

The filmmaker realized he had acted out of character and disappointed his spouse, and with that realization, he had to make things right. Days later, he called a family meeting, including his wife and their son, where he apologized profusely for his mistake.

In 1999, the girl’s superstar dad addressed the scandal in a conference, where he revealed his wife had forgiven him and that his son understood. Moreover, he said if the child turned out to be his, he would take responsibility.

In another startling revelation, the martial artist confessed in a 2015 interview that he was forced to marry his wife after she fell pregnant with their son, adding it was never his intention to get married. He disclosed:

“It was an accident which conceived Jaycee. I had never thought of getting married, but I felt it was akin to being forced to get married.”

The girl’s father also confessed to being a ladies’ man with many girlfriends at a young age before secretly tying the knot with his wife at a Los Angeles coffee shop. The pair have been married for four decades. Regardless of their long-lasting union, the stuntman has been rumored to have been unfaithful to his award-winning spouse several times.

In addition to that, the girl’s dad admitted that he had not been a good father to his kids. He shared his strong belief in physically disciplining children as they are naughty—as he did with his son when he was younger. “The Karate Kid” star revealed he once threw his son on the couch and instantly felt terrible about it because he scared him and his mom.

Who Is This Girl And Her Superstar Dad?
The girl we’re referring to is none other than Etta Ng Chok Lam, the estranged daughter of renowned actor Jackie Chan. Her mother, Elaine Ng Yi-lei, is an actress and a former pageant queen.

The situation involving the 69-year-old film star began after an emotional scene from his film “Ride On” circulated.
Although he openly talked about his son, Chan did not mention Chok Lam in his book. At the time of the book’s release, she had just married her wife, Andi Autumn, a Canadian internet celebrity. She was 19 when she tied the knot with her partner.

Though Chan did not talk about her, she, on the other hand, previously made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with him because he was never present in her life.

Jackie Chan’s Non-existent Relationship with His Daughter
Despite Chok Lam being bold enough to follow her heart, she admitted that she and her then-girlfriend Autumn were struggling in Canada. The duo started dating in 2017, the same year she came out as a lesbian on social media. Chok Lam and Autumn—who is 12 years her senior— made international headlines when they married in 2018.

Although she has a wealthy father, Chok Lam claimed she and Autumn were homeless and had sought shelter under a bridge. In April 2018, the pair filmed a video and posted it on YouTube as a cry for help because they could barely make ends meet to survive.

Chok Lam and Autumn revealed family and friends had disowned them because of homophobia. They refused to settle at a homeless shelter for fear of being separated. In the video, Chok Lam introduced her partner Autumn and herself as Chan’s child, sharing how long they had been without a home and where they had been staying:

“We’ve been homeless for a month due to homophobic parents. We’ve pretty much slept under a bridge and other things… We’ve gone to the police, the hospital, food banks, LGBT community, shelters, and all of them just don’t give [expletive]…We don’t know what to do at this point.”

The now 23-year-old added that after knocking on every door out there and receiving no assistance, she and her partner decided to record the video because it was their last resort. Chok Lam even asked those who viewed the clip to share it to gain traction, hoping to get help.

Her mother eventually saw the video and condemned the couple for their act. Yi-lei, who previously bailed out the pair after they failed to pay the bill for their stay at a Mong Kok hotel, said:

“I feel that if they have no money, they should go find work. They shouldn’t film a clip telling others they are broke and who Etta’s father is. People all over the world work hard and don’t rely on someone else’s fame to get money.”

The mother and daughter have had a strained relationship over the years to the point that the actress once claimed Chok Lam was not her daughter. She was upset by how she was living, which always led to her coming to her rescue.

In 2015, Yi-lei was reportedly arrested for child cruelty but was later released by police. Following that incident, Chok Lam, who lived with her in an apartment in Happy Valley, dropped out of school to move to North Point with Autumn after coming out.

The winner of Miss Asia also touched on her daughter’s well-being, saying she suffered from emotional issues and that she had been seeing a medical professional before she left Hong Kong and had not gone to therapy ever since.

Yi-Lei added that Autumn was a bad influence on her child as she was a woman in her thirties with teaching work experience. The concerned mom questioned how she could allow Chok Lam to film a video when she was supposed to reprimand her. “It’s wrong,” she said.

The mother of one blasted the couple for blaming their parents for their choices while making an example of Hong Kong residents who work despite being fairly paid.

Chok Lam and Autumn fled from Hong Kong, after which the former was reported missing by her mother. She was 18 then, had quit her job, and remained under the radar for months, leaving her mom to file a missing persons report.

During that period, CCTV footage showed Chok Lam and Autumn in a convenience store telling the cashier she was looking for her father. Per reports, the footage was filmed in Canada, but the encounter still needed to be confirmed where it occurred.

Chok Lam spoke candidly about what she thought about her father for the first time when she was 15. She expressed no desire to forgive him for being absent throughout her life nor did she want money from him:

“He is not my dad. I have no feelings for him. He is my biological father, but he is not in my life…He never existed in my life. I will never regard him as a father. I would not say that he is my dad. I would say, ‘Oh, Jackie Chan, an actor.'”

Chok Lam was born after her parents had ended their affair, which started in 1998. Chan deemed his relationship with Yi-Lei a fault. In turn, Chok Lam didn’t consider him her father despite having watched his movies growing up.

Chok Lam said she would never refer to the “Rush Hour” star as her dad. She emphasized she did not harbor any bad feelings toward her father, but, at the same time, she couldn’t tell what kind of person he was because they didn’t know each other well enough.

The millionaire actor’s daughter added she was in no position to judge her father without knowing him and admitted that if she were younger, she would have probably tarnished his name, but because she was old enough, she chose her words wisely.

Meanwhile, the “Who Am I” star avoided talking about his daughter, once stating that some things were better left unsaid. In addition to her non-existent relationship with her dad, Chok Lam’s mom had a drinking problem while raising her, and they struggled to develop a mother-and-daughter relationship.

Chok Lam refused to mend her volatile relationship with her mom by opting not to reunite with her for Chinese New Year. In January 2023, the young woman said she would rather be out on the streets than make things right with her mom:

“I’d rather be homeless and eat stale bread than reunite with my mother.”

Moreover, as a child, people followed her every move, thinking she was wealthy because of who her dad was, but evidently, that was never the case.

Jackie Chan Cuts His Kids Out of His Will While His Daughter Queued for Free Food
In 2011, Chan revealed he would not leave his daughter or singer-son Jaycee, whom he shared with his wife Joan Lin, with an inheritance once he dies. Instead, all his reported million-dollar fortune would go to charity.

The “Drunken Master” star, who remains one of the highest-paid stars, believes his son should make his own living, and if he couldn’t, then he would only be misusing whatever inheritance he is set to receive.

However, he changed his tune in 2018. After deciding to leave all his money to charity, Chan revealed he had changed his will and would be leaving all his assets to his wife, Lin.

While the actor opted to leave everything to his spouse, his daughter struggled to eat. In October 2022, a netizen spotted Chok Lam queuing for free food provided to those in need in Toronto, Canada. An unidentified individual photographed her, and the image was shared several times online.

The then-22-year-old was reportedly pictured standing in line among the elderly and middle-aged women while carrying a blue bag. According to the source, Chok Lam was making ends meet by working at a restaurant in Chinatown.

People have shown empathy for Chok Lam and have called for her father to take notice of her on social media, asking him to tend to her and show that he cares.

Meanwhile, it seems Chok Lam’s relationship with Autumn has fizzled out—which was her mother’s worst fear, as she previously suspected she married her daughter because of ulterior motives.

Netizens revealed Chok Lam deleted photos of her wife from her social media accounts. It turns out Autumn had also done the same thing, per reports. Chok Lam previously dismissed reports suggesting Autumn got involved with her because she assumed that she had money because of who her dad was.

In fact, in December 2018, she shared plans to make her own name by jump-starting her creative agency in Hong Kong alongside Autumn. The Hong Kong native expressed her desire to step out of her estranged father’s shadow, revealing she never went by his last name.

Jackie Chan Is Blasted for Abandoning His Daughter
In the summer of 2023, fans online criticized Chan for allegedly abandoning his openly gay daughter, Chok Lam, following a controversy sparked by a viral video clip showing him portraying a loving father. The situation involving the 69-year-old film star began after an emotional scene from his film “Ride On” circulated.

Initially well-received, public opinion shifted as details of Chan’s real relationship with his daughter came to light, leading to widespread criticism. Social media users accused Chan of disowning his daughter due to her sexual orientation and highlighted their estrangement, especially as she faced financial struggles.

Jackie Chan and his daughter crying while watching some of his old movie scenes is the most wholesome thing you’ll watch today.

Thanks for our childhood legend ❤️ pic.twitter.com/SnCDFR9X2Q

— ™ (@Tegadeyforyou) July 3, 2023

Despite the confusion initially surrounding the emotional clip, where Chan played the role of a retired stuntman and film star named Luo Zhilong (Lao Luo), people later discussed his fractured relationship with Chok Lam on social media platforms.

“[Every] time I hear about this man and his children it’s always something awful. [He’s] definitely a horrible father,” wrote one user. “The fact that not only that is an actress in a movie and not her actual daughter, but the fact that he’s estranged from his real life daughter for being lesbian is certainly something, huh. This isn’t wholesome at all,” quipped a second user.

“[Why] is no one pointing out that this isn’t his daughter and he is a terrible father,” asked another commenter. [Didn’t] he disown his daughter since she was a lesbian?” wondered yet another user. According to sources, Chan has never met his daughter, nor has he provided any financial assistance or been involved in her upbringing.