When She Was 5, Shu Qi Had To Wake Up At 6AM To Cook Porridge For Her Abusive Parents Before School

Some people are forced to grow up far too early and Taiwanese actress Shu Qi is one of them.

In a recent interview, the 49-year-old screen goddess was asked if there was a particular moment when she “transformed from a girl to a woman.”

“When I was younger, in my memory, I was already an adult,” she replied.

Shu Qi then recalled her earliest childhood memory, one that speaks volumes about her resilience.

“The earliest memory I have was waking up at 6am. I was in kindergarten, so about five or six years old, and having to cook porridge for the entire family.”

Growing up poor, she would add water to leftover rice from the night before to make breakfast.

“The first time I did that, the congee wasn’t fully cooked, and I was badly beaten. Okay, not beaten up, but harshly scolded again,” she said, her eyes glimmering with emotion.

After preparing breakfast, Shu Qi would put on her uniform, grab her water bottle, and head out alone to catch the school bus.

“In my head now, that’s the earliest memory I have,” she said quietly.

Netizens were left shocked and heartbroken by her story. One commented bluntly: “What kind of parents would treat their own child like this? It’s ridiculous.”

This isn’t the first time Shu Qi has spoken about her difficult childhood.

She previously revealed that her father, who struggled with alcoholism, was emotionally unstable, and it often led to beatings and scoldings.

Her mother, a housewife who had Shu Qi at a young age, resented that motherhood had prevented her from pursuing her own dreams.

As a child, Shu Qi, who also has a younger brother, learned to read her father’s moods by the sound of his keys at the door.

“I had to pay close attention to my parents’ reactions and stay away if they were upset,” she once said, adding that she would hide in a closet whenever her father came home in a foul mood.

She eventually left home at 16, working as a waitress and salesperson to support herself.

However, financial hardship pushed her to take on more controversial work — from posing for explicit photos to acting in erotic films — which unexpectedly became her stepping stone into stardom.