Priscelia Chan is back. The home-grown actress had been missing from television screens the past two years as she could not put on make-up due to a skin condition.
However, she told Chineselanguage evening paper Lianhe Wanbao in a recent interview that she has recovered fully and hopes to go back to acting in TV serials.
She recalled that she was very emotionally affected when actor Aloysius Pang died in a military training accident earlier this year and it caused rashes to appear on her face, further aggravating an existing condition. She also felt weak.
"How was I to do filming if my condition could be affected by my emotions?"
But the 40-year-old decided to accept a challenge and take on an emotionally demanding role in Symbiosis Of An Author's Life, a play staged at the Drama Centre Theatre last month.
"I decided to take one step at a time and went all out to do my best... my condition did not flare up, so it is confirmed that I have recovered fully."
Her traditional Chinese medicine physician also felt she is as healthy as she was three years ago, and her focus now is to strengthen her health.
Chan said she watched her diet very strictly while suffering from the skin condition, which she believed to be red skin syndrome, or topical steroid withdrawal.
Now that she has recovered, she is more relaxed with her diet, though she has not tried eating seafood like crab or sashimi yet.
Next month, she will celebrate her recovery with her husband, former actor Alan Tern, in Bali, Indonesia. "We also plan to celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary there," she said.
Chan is currently teaching acting in two schools.
She recently appeared in a short video for Star Search, variety show Fun With SINGnese 2 and Web TV serial I See You. She hopes to act in longer TV serials.
Does she worry that her condition may return with a busy filming schedule?
"I am not worried, as everything is fine as God has allowed me to heal," she said. "In fact, I felt even greater pressure from writing and directing the short film Soul Connection than from acting, but I managed to complete it smoothly."
Lim Ruey Yan
