Happiness and bitterness of raising children alone

One by circumstance, one by personality

Recently, on her personal page, actress Viet Trinh announced that she would not marry and would stay single for the rest of her life. This surprised many people, even though she had previously raised her children alone without revealing the identity of her husband. The reason why Viet Trinh was so determined was because she met a monk and realized many things. She shared: "Last Sunday, I followed a sister to listen to a monk's lecture. The monk met me and said: You should become a nun. I really don't know if he was joking or serious, but I naturally thought about it a lot. If there is enough affinity, it will be a great blessing for me. If there is not enough affinity right now, I will wander around with my sisters to make a living, go to the temple and do social work. Enough is enough."

Actress Viet Trinh.

During the past 9 years of raising her son alone, Viet Trinh has always protected him so that he can live a simple life. She said the reason for raising her son alone is that her ideals and those of her son's father are not compatible. She herself is also too passionate about her job and dedication to the audience that she has no time to take care of her small family.

Sharing the same situation as Viet Trinh, singer Nhu Hao is somewhat more special. The first prize winner of the Ho Chi Minh City Television Singing Contest in 1992 surprised music lovers when she returned to Vietnam to continue her singing career after nearly 17 years of absence. At this time, Nhu Hao revealed a little about the cracks and breakdowns in her family life.

Having lived her life for love and sacrificed for her family, Nhu Hao often felt sad and lonely when facing a single life. The singer shared: "Many times I feel very lonely when I come home from a performance alone. Sometimes, I have a fever but I just cook, buy medicine and rest by myself." However, Nhu Hao said she did not dare to open her heart to find someone else to take care of and be with because after her broken marriage, she almost lost faith in love: "Maybe because of the experience, I am afraid of being hurt and heartbroken again." Currently, Nhu Hao lives with her 15-year-old daughter, but when she goes on long tours, she still leaves her child with her ex-husband to take care of.

Recalling the process of raising her children alone, Phi Nhung could not hold back her tears. Although known to the public as the mother of a group of adopted children, Phi Nhung always kept the story of her biological daughter a secret. Only recently, the singer publicly revealed her daughter Wendy Pham. Phi Nhung moved to the US alone when she was young and earned money by sewing. At the age of 20, she became pregnant but did not dare to tell anyone for fear of being scolded. The singer said: “When my belly was big, I still went to work until close to the day of birth. I also drove myself to the hospital to give birth and had no one to help. The day I was discharged from the hospital, I asked a friend to pick me up. When my child was one month old, I went back to work, put the crib next to the sewing machine, covered it with a piece of cloth to keep the child from getting dust. I also put a milk bottle next to it because when hungry, the child would find it to drink.”

Phi Nhung’s daughter said she did not blame her mother for not spending enough time with her. Wendy even once sat in the audience and cried when she heard Phi Nhung say “no husband, no biological children, will stay single for the rest of her life to take care of adopted children”. However, Wendy sympathized and understood that what her mother was doing was entirely for her.

Similarly, Phuong Thanh has raised Ga for many years and tried to keep her baby a secret to minimize disruption to her family life. She has always been a supporter of single mothers, because she understands their situation better than anyone else. However, for many years, being both a father and a mother to a child has always been a burden for a single mother. Phuong Thanh emphasized: "I have experienced enough hardships of raising a child alone."

And then after 10 years of being a single mother in silence, recently, the audience was surprised when she first publicly revealed the image of baby Ga's father but it was on the first anniversary of his death. In 2016, Phuong Thanh suddenly revealed about her 22-year-old son. The secret son was affectionately called by Phuong Thanh as Lon and revealed that he was 23 years old, weighing 75kg. Phuong Thanh also "hinted" that the son and daughter have many similar features and have a tall appearance like their father.

Phuong Thanh - a strong single mother of Vietnamese showbiz.

Silent tears

It can be said that a single mother with a stormy private life like Xuan Lan would have collapsed if she did not have the willpower. Her revelations about love and marriage in "After the halo" once shocked the audience. After breaking up with her first gay lover, she got married and then divorced. Xuan Lan met a new man and became pregnant with baby Tho, however, after giving birth for a week, that man suggested ending the relationship with her and her child. When she wanted to show off her child's picture to everyone, the message she received from the child's father was: "Can you photoshop his eyes to be blue and his hair to be blond, so people will think he is a mixed-race child and not mine."

The singer of “Mother’s Diary” had a child at a time when society viewed single mothers harshly, but Hien Thuc overcame everything to raise her child. During her pregnancy, her family faced difficulties. Her brother passed away, and her father had to work as a cyclo driver to support the family. Even though she was pregnant, Hien Thuc still tried to sing at bars and restaurants. Later, her father fell ill, and all the property in the house was sold to pay for his treatment. At this time, all the expenses in the house fell on the mother’s shoulders, both taking care of her husband’s treatment and taking care of her daughter who was giving birth. However, the mother did not blame her, and this made Hien Thuc very touched.

After giving birth, she returned to singing and had to start from zero, which meant her show fee dropped dramatically, from 10-15 million VND to a pitiful level, even some shows were only a few tens of thousands of VND because people forgot... the name Hien Thuc. Now when talking about that time, she shared that she had to spend 2 years living in fear and raising her child in despair as a single mother at the age of 21. Perhaps it was those experiences that made her more aware of the sacred motherly love and were the motivation to successfully perform the song "Mother's Diary" later.

Similar to Hien Thuc, 21-year-old actress Kim Tuyen has become a single mother with many tears. The beauty shared that her daughter is not only a source of spiritual encouragement but also a close confidant. Talking about her plans for marriage, Kim Tuyen said she still has no intention of remarrying. The beautiful MC Van Hugo had a good marriage for 4 years, then divorced. Recently, she revealed that her voice is getting hoarse, she is at risk of becoming mute and one eye is completely damaged. Moreover, her son also has a difficult-to-treat mental illness. But she has tried to continue working, tried to treat her son and find joy with her family and son.

Being a single mother is almost a cruel challenge for many Vietnamese stars, but when they overcome everything, the happiness for their children blooms completely in their hearts. Therefore, although each person has a different choice, in the end, single mothers always have to work twice or three times harder than normal people to bring their children a peaceful and fulfilling life. They are willing to sacrifice personal happiness to wholeheartedly educate their children, and perhaps, do not want to continue to get involved in bitter love affairs... because they have experienced it more than once.

Minh Thi