SINGAPORE - Local actress Phyllis Quek is unfazed by unkind comments online about her marriage to Australian businessman David Cox, who is 11 years her senior.

In an interview with Chinese-language evening daily Lianhe Wanbao published on Monday (June 7), Quek, 47, said she is not affected by such talk.

"I can't stop people from commenting. What is most important is that I live well and live happily," she was quoted as saying.

She said a small group of netizens made a big deal out of the age gap between her and her husband and the fact that he is Caucasian.

Quek felt that as a public figure, it is impossible to please everybody and it will be tiring to take everything to heart.

"Life is only a few decades long, and we should cherish what we have. Be more grateful and less critical," said Quek, who has been married since 2013.

The topic of unkind comments about her marriage came up after television host Belinda Lee went on Quek's online show Careless Whispers in May.

Lee, 43, who is married to American architect David Moore, who is 15 years older than her, had asked Quek if she had been on the receiving end of nasty remarks after she got married.

Quek said on the show that she had tried to ignore such talk, as she felt that some of the netizens were out to "attack" her and her husband.

Quek returned to Singapore alone recently after going to Australia with her husband in March. He stayed on in Sydney to keep his mother company.

The couple visited Sydney about four times a year before the Covid-19 pandemic, but her husband had not been back in Australia for more than a year before his latest visit.

While her husband decided to stay longer in Sydney, Quek's heart remained with Singapore. "Singapore is after all my base. I will miss home, as my friends and family are here," she said.

"My husband and I accommodate each other," she added, referring to how they divide their time between Singapore and Australia.

Quek has acted in only two TV serials - Legal Eagles (2017) and My Teacher Is A Thug (2017) - since she got married.

She said she is still interested in acting and it will be good if the projects are warm-hearted family dramas.

"Perhaps because I am currently watching K-drama Once Again (2020) and the family theme makes me cry and laugh at the same time," she said. "But I won't reject any genre - warm-hearted dramas, suspense, let nature take its course."