SINGAPORE – Local audiences can now listen to Taiwanese host-actress Matilda Tao, 54, on the airwaves.
The star recently joined Mediacorp radio station Love 972’s afternoon line-up after moving to Singapore in January.
In two separate Instagram posts, the radio station welcomed Tao. The first announced her hour-long programme Tao Xin Time, which broadcasts on weekdays from 11am to noon. The other was a photo of Tao with local deejay Violet Fenying.
Mediacorp’s online entertainment site 8world reported that Tao Xin Time is pre-recorded by Tao and edited by Fenying. The show, which launched on March 11, touches on entertainment news and will include Tao’s thoughts on pop culture in Taiwan and Singapore.
Tao’s move to local radio comes soon after settling down in Singapore.
At a press conference held in Taipei on March 13 to announce her solo concert-cum-talk show Crazy Momoment, Tao revealed that she relocated to Singapore in January for her 15-year-old son, who began attending a private international school here in 2024.
Tao is married to actor Lee Lee-zen (The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon, 2023). They also have a 17-year-old daughter, who is attending high school in America.
Lee now resides in Taipei alone with the family’s two pet dogs, though Tao still returns to Taiwan frequently for work.
Explaining her move, Tao told Taiwanese media: “I feel that Singapore is not a bad choice. It’s safe, it’s pretty close to travel to and from, and it is so cosmopolitan.”
She added that her family began looking for an apartment in December and made the move in early January. Her son is attending Secondary 2 here, while her daughter will graduate from high school in May.
“(My husband) had to send our daughter off at the airport to America on his birthday – Jan 6 – and my son and I were not by his side. He’s a big crybaby, so he was washing his face with tears,” she joked.
Tao hopes her children will pursue higher education in Singapore, given the quality of education and the reasonable tuition fees here. Her daughter, who hopes to study music, is applying for universities in America and elsewhere.
“One year of university fees in America can pay for six years of study in Singapore,” she said, “so it’s a great place.”
She added: “It can cost US$90,000 for just one year of university in America, so I’ve been telling my daughter, ‘I think Singapore is really great.’”
Tao, who hosted Mediacorp’s annual Star Awards in 2023, is not without friends here.
At the press conference, she said home-grown Mandopop queen Stefanie Sun is her local guide who drives her around and takes her shopping at wet markets, dressed in slippers and sweatpants.
