The troubled past of the most beautiful woman in Vietnam

A broken marriage, leaving the North for the South, Thuy Huong's life turned to new pages, for her: No turning back, but yes looking back.

If you ask which beauty is truly ageless and who is the most beautiful in Vietnam, the answer is definitely Thuy Huong.

Looking at Thuy Huong today with a prosperous present, few people can imagine what she left behind in a past journey that made her exclaim: No turning back, but looking back, yes.

Once a good literature teacher at a college and thought she was settled with a normal civil servant life; once sold cheap rice, did hair to fulfill the role of a good wife, good daughter-in-law in a ceremonial family in the North...

A broken marriage, leaving the North for the South, Thuy Huong's life turned to new pages.

Thuy Huong

The shocks of youth

- The only child of a prestigious family, educated in the feudal way; passing the university entrance exam at a time when university was still a distant dream for many people; becoming a good teacher at a college; and possessing a beauty that could topple a kingdom. Is the last part of what I just mentioned the reason why all the other parts above cannot “sit still” so that Thuy Huong, even if she wanted to, could not be a contented civil servant?

- No. I like to settle down, build a family and have a stable job, and I don't care about my appearance. Although I was a photo model when I was young, I like success from education because I am also a good student. But the reason I am not satisfied with my position as a civil servant, as you asked, is because I was "pushed out onto the street".

At that time, after graduating from university, I had taught at Tuyen Quang Pedagogical College for six years. Unexpectedly, in 1987, with the staff reduction mechanism, 20 out of 30 teachers had to quit, including me, even though I was a good teacher at that time. I felt like I had lost my way. The psychological pressure of being a mother of two children, of work, of building up my career became heavier and heavier.

It lasted for three years, I was like a person who could not escape from the crisis. At that time, I just wished that there was some miracle that could change the local situation. And I hoped, hoped that I could still work again, through literature. Because in reality, I loved the job, and still dreamed a lot about literature. But where could I find a job, when the payroll was decreasing everywhere?

- And how do you find “bread and butter” while waiting for something brighter from… literature?

- I helped my husband's family go to Tuyen Quang town market to open a rice and pho shop. The family also has a hair salon nearby. After selling rice and pho, I went to help do hair. After finishing all the work at the market, I went home to raise pigs.

I did those jobs very lightly, because it didn't matter what I did, as long as it was clean and supported my family. Of course, I still had high hopes for a teaching career or at least wanted to do something better than raising pigs, doing hairdressing and selling rice.

- A beautiful, sharp woman living in such a crisis, surely could not avoid the slander of the world's mouth. I also heard that during that time, you were also a victim of these things?

- Before that, not then. Right after my wedding, there was an article in the local newspaper about violating the new lifestyle. Then satirical pages, poems, and songs, all of them, kept laughing gleefully about it.

My family is a sophisticated family, so they did not agree to a new way of life, but instead raised the dowry and set conditions: after the wedding, I had to go to graduate school, not just sit there and be a good daughter-in-law like other families. And there were many points of disagreement between the two sides, but in the end the wedding still took place.

At 21, it was a big shock, the first shock of my life. My first love had just come true, but it became a mockery for the world. There are some verses that I still remember, with their venomous words. I applied to study but the Department of Culture did not approve it because of the newspaper article mocking the marriage. I learned to accept, not to react.

- As you said, at that time the psychological pressure of being a mother of two children, and the pressure of building a career weighed heavily. So, where did your husband go, at least to share his wife's spirit?

- Yes. If my husband had been sympathetic, then what happened later wouldn't have happened...

- A breakdown in that situation is inevitable. It can be understood that a man who loses his wife is often due to incompetence, blind jealousy or mental problems. But on the contrary, not being able to keep the family together is often not only the man's fault?

- As for me, I just felt that I was not old enough, not experienced enough to accept more than that kind of life, or to be more exact, I could not be more perfect to make the situation better, but accepted the difference.

I am not an insecure person, and although I like to settle down, I am not the type of person who can endure a lot and give up easily. I applied for a job at the National University Library, but once again, my career path was not smooth.

Thuy Huong in the present tense

- Breaking up can end a marriage, but it doesn't necessarily end a love. For you at that time, did you break up when the love was gone, or was it still there?

- It's over. It's over when the ultimate purpose of marriage is not achieved. I have no one to share with. And gradually I become someone who loses my emotions. I don't want to talk, I don't want to argue. It's cold. If it lasts, it's easy to trivialize relationships, and that's insulting yourself.

It is true that there are breakups that still have love, but for me, I break up when the love is gone. And I break up to keep more good thoughts about each other, rather than continuing to live together. Then I feel lighter to do other things for myself.

Sometimes, regret about an incomplete love

- However, no matter how fast life moves, I think a sensitive person like you cannot help but look back. I want to go back to the story with the ex-husband. When his wife on the bus of life has rolled in another direction, surely that man will run after her to hold on but... helpless?

My husband is a confident type of person and of course because of that confidence he is not a clinger. However, he is so confident that I will come back to him, that is what he does not understand me. A man only hopes that his wife will come back according to his thinking without trying to change himself to wait for that return.

When we are young, everything has a chance to change. But now it is too late, I think, he cannot change. Maybe there are bad things that people will accept because of too much love. Or, my love for him is not big enough?

You say that also means you want him to change. So, even though you left, do you sometimes still want to come back to do it all over again?

Thinking about going back, there are times like that. It's just a pity that it's like spilled water and it's easy to leave but hard to come back. Even though it took a very long time, I still couldn't forget this first love and didn't go with anyone. I used to hope that he would change, yes.

But then I found someone’s saying very true: if you don’t want to be disappointed in something, don’t expect it anymore. I want it, I really want it, but not everything I want can be done. I practice saying “no” to this problem.

Well, that's how fate is, accept it and thank it. So I don't choose to go back but choose to look back. Look back to always be good friends. In fact, after breaking up, we were friends and took good care of our children. Would that be possible if we kept living together like before?

So, after more than 20 years of leaving, with this marriage, is there anything that makes you feel regretful?

Sometimes. Regret about an incomplete love, not going all the way together. Even though I always feel like my decision was right, but looking back I wish everything was more perfect.

But well, if you don't experience a breakdown, you won't see life as colorful and interesting. After all, the common wish of human beings is to always be themselves, and I have achieved that.

The perfect change

So it can be understood that you went to the South because you had no other choice?

At that time, everything was over because we had broken up. My father was a repatriated person so he still had a house here. I didn't have to go to the South to find something new or to choose something new for myself, it was simply a change of environment.

Honestly, I also planned to stop in Hanoi, to have something to do because my goal was to stabilize my life, but I thought, in the South I have my family, why not? I decided very quickly, and set off with my little daughter. As for my son, I temporarily left Hanoi with my paternal family.

How was the story of balancing with the new destination, while she was in the state of mind of an unemployed teacher and a woman with a failed marriage?

I have to say thank you to Saigon, the place that holds the loneliest souls and shows people how to get involved. I get to do a lot, learn a lot and have no time to live with my regrets. During the day, I work at the City Exhibition Information Center and then in charge of models at the Hoa Binh Theater. When there is a shortage of models, I jump out to perform. There are days when I work until 4pm and I still enjoy it.

At night, I studied computer science and English. I learned whatever I lacked, I never hesitated to learn, I was only afraid of being ignorant. I learned foreign languages ​​from my love of literature, I liked to read foreign literary works in their original form. I also soon saw the benefits of foreign languages ​​in a fast-growing city like Saigon. And just like that, work helped me regain my balance very quickly.

And then a "decent" teacher, a woman who likes to settle down "suddenly" became a famous model, dominating the beautiful photo collections of photographers on the topic of Vietnamese beauty...

If I look at it, I think of it as a fire from within, waiting for it to burn out, although until now I still affirm that modeling is just a side job for me. When I was young, I was a flirtatious, dreamy, and sensitive person like a literature major. So coming to art is also a natural thing. It is not so strange because a literature teacher is not so rigid that she cannot perform. Thinking that way, I walked on the stage naturally and peacefully.

It can also be understood as a reason. When two photographers Tran Huy Hoan and Duong Minh Long took a series of photos for Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper, it was also the time when Thuy Huong's name in the art field began to take shape. Then Ms. Minh Hanh invited me to be her ao dai model. And then everything swept me away...

The “attraction” of art with beauty and glory is there but the trouble cannot be said to be absent. Are you aware that following it, you will accept a price to have something to keep for your youth?

I don't have any problems with art. I know, modeling brings aura, but it is not a profession. I do not only perform but also participate in the creative process of art projects. Then I have my own business projects.

As for fame, if there is any, it comes naturally, don't think too much about it by trading or paying any price. I do my artistic activities as a normal thing, a normal job of a normal person. And if so, am I lucky enough not to have to trade or pay the price as you mentioned?

Thanks for the chat!

According to Vietnamnet