SINGAPORE - Former Hong Kong actress Cherie Chung Chor Hung says it is necessary to have love in her life - but it need not be in the form of romantic love.

The elegant 55-year-old, whose advertising executive husband Michael Chu died of colon cancer in 2007, tells The Straits Times on Wednesday that she is content with all the love that she feels from her close friends and family.

"I believe in love, and I think it's very important to always to have love in my life, but it doesn't have to just be the type between a man and a woman," she says in Mandarin at a party to celebrate the opening of the Paragon boutique for luxury accessories brand Jimmy Choo.

"Besides, I have no suitors. Not even a single one," she adds with a laugh.

Some will find that hard to believe, given how effortlessly radiant and timeless she still looks.

Dressed in a low-cut black jumpsuit at this interview, she looked like she aged little from the days when she graced the silver screen more than two decades ago in classic films such as An Autumn's Tale (1987), opposite Chow Yun Fat, and John Woo's Once A Thief (1991).

"Do you really think I still look good?" she muses, before adding that her lasting beauty may have something to do with "just being very happy".

"I do the things I love to do every day, so I think that shows. I am interested in photography, so I take lots of pictures. I am also involved in many environmental causes, so I keep busy.

"I don't really do anything special to maintain my looks. But if I know that I have to take pictures at events like this one, then I try to eat a little less for two weeks beforehand," she says with a grin.