‘Only gave me 100 bucks when I left home for work’: Eleanor Lee says mum Quan Yi Fong didn’t ‘spoon-feed’ her

Local singer-actress Eleanor Lee is making a name for herself in China, but she insists it wasn’t because wealth or opportunities were handed to her by her mother, veteran host Quan Yi Fong.

In an Instagram post on Saturday (Jun 27), the 24-year-old wrote that, while many may think she had been “born into this industry” or “spoon-fed” by her mum, she had to work hard to get to where she is.

“Believe it or not, my mum only gave me 100 bucks when I left home for work,” she added. “I didn’t think I would stay, make a life here for myself and continue to strive, it was just a go-with-the-flow mentality for me then.

“I stayed at my manager’s home and slept on the couch for months before earning my first sum of money and buying new clothes for myself. Slowly I turned 100 into many more zeroes and I’m proud of that.”

She accompanied her post with photos of herself eating on the set of her new movie To Live Through Death.

Eleanor, whose father is local actor Peter Yu, made her first foray into the Chinese market in 2015 when she played the lead role in an Apple commercial in China. She later signed with a talent management agency there and has been based there for the last few years.

Eleanor wrote in her recent post that her mum “never spoils” her, and that the money she earns goes into a locked bank account Yi Fong, 50, monitors for her.

She added: “Just like in my primary school days if I wanted to buy a pencil I liked, my mum would never give me extra money, she would say, ‘You have to earn what you want’, so I would save up, eat less and buy what I wanted.

“This way I would know and pay the price, and treasure everything because I know its worth.”

Eleanor wrote that she currently only lives off the money she has in her “piggy bank”, watching what she buys and eats.

“I like it this way, because it reminds us to work harder every day and stay grounded,” she concluded.

Eleanor’s post was met with appreciation from fellow celebs, with Chen Xiuhuan commenting: “What a good kid” and Zhang Zetong sharing clapping emojis.

Fellow second-generation star Chen Yixin, the daughter of Xiang Yun and Edmund Chen, wrote: “So proud of you and how far you’ve come.”

Yi Fong, on the other hand, opted for some levity, commenting: “So proud of you. There’s still some change left from that $100, do you still want it?”

“Go buy a good power bank,” Eleanor retorted, which earned laughter from her mum.

Eleanor previously discussed the difficulties she’s faced in showbiz while answering questions from her Instagram followers.

When asked if she’s ever wanted to leave the industry, Eleanor responded that it was “more times than you could ever imagine” and that almost every artiste she knew personally or knew of had similar thoughts.

“It’s the pressure and lack of freedom, the feeling of not being able to catch a breath and not have space to grow and learn from mistakes,” she added.

But she credited Yi Fong as a reason for not leaving.

“I look up to my mum, because god knows all the shit she has to put up with and go through,” she wrote.

“Then I think to myself, that woman never quit, not once, so how could I?”

To Live Through Death, which stars Louis Fan and Andy On, releases July 31 on iQiyi.