Sisley Choi now keeps her distance from male co-stars to prevent misunderstandings from happening

No part of this story can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg

If the producers of hit 2023 movie Barbie are filming a sequel and are looking for an Asian face, they can seriously consider casting Sisley Choi.

At least that’s the first thing that came to 8days.sg when the 33-year-old TVB star walked into the BMF The Aesthetics People outlet at Orchard Gateway earlier this week.

She was all glammed up in a baby pink dress and while holding a dainty little woven basket bag with a pink “BMF” embroidered on it.

Sisley, who is the beauty brand's newly appointed ambassador, was in town for the launch of its new Cristal Pro Sculpt System. 

Like how Barbie has her fair share of insecurities despite her oh-so-perfect appearance, Sisley pretty much too has doubts about herself. 

And she was not afraid to own up to it.  

“No matter how much people say: ‘No lah, you’re already so skinny’, when you look at yourself in the mirror, you’ll pick up all the small things, we’re all like that,” she confessed during our small group interview.

For Sisley, her biggest concern is her thighs, which is what she mainly uses the Cristal Pro Sculpt System for.

That said, the 2020 TVB Anniversary Awards Best Actress winner is also great at masking her insecurities.

“There’s this saying: ‘Fake it till you make it,” she laughed.

While Sisley repeatedly lamented how "flabby" her thighs are, all we could notice while speaking to her was her ridiculously toned arms.

And she was very happy to be complimented. 

“Oh my god, you can see?” she said, before proceeding to flex her arms for us. 

She even said her goal this year is to “become the fittest version of [herself].”

“I’m trying to get a six-pack, if I can,” she chuckled.

Does she not look like a real-life Barbie doll?

Sisley, who used to visit Singapore to “promote TVB dramas in malls”, is not unfamiliar with our Little Red Dot. 

Last year, for her birthday, Sisley jetted over to Singapore to catch the Red Hot Chilli Peppers in concert. 

“I heard it’s their last concert ever so I flew all the way here just to attend it,” she recalled.

Speaking of chilli pepper, Sisley, who’s a huge fan of spicy food, really loves the flavourful local delicacies here in Singapore. 

“I really want to have an authentic laksa. I know it’s very common here in Singapore and you can get it at a lot of places but I want to try the real stuff,” she said. “Actually, in general, I like the food here in Singapore because it’s strong in flavour and mostly spicy."

And while most tourists would visit places like Sentosa or Gardens By The Bay when in Singapore, Sisley’s choice of tourist attraction took us by surprise.

“I went to the Ice Cream Museum the last time. It was quite fun, it’s a really cute place to take photos,” she beamed.

When we told her that’s quite an unexpected spot for a foreigner to visit, she nodded: “Yeah when I went there, there was hardly anyone (laughs).”

How did Sisley find out about the Ice Cream Museum then?

“I just saw it online randomly and thought: ‘Pink! That’s my colour!'” she giggled. 

Remember how we spoke about her insecurities earlier on? Sisley went on to share about the times she was unsure about herself.

Likening her past decade in showbiz to a rollercoaster ride, she confessed that she was, on several occasions, faced with a lot of criticism and "external noise", which made her doubt herself.

But with time and experience, Sisley learnt to “listen to [herself] more”.

“It doesn’t matter whether or not people like you as long as you like yourself, because liking oneself is difficult too. I think there was a period when I didn’t like myself but I learnt that it’s important to do so,” she shared, adding that she’s become a little more confident as time went by. 

After all, society, especially the industry that she is in, expects her to be at her best at all times.

“Even for me, I’d look into the mirror and critique myself. I don’t even need other people to criticise me, I’m already criticising myself based on the standard there is out there,” she shared.

Thankfully, Sisley can pull herself out of that spiral quickly.

“I’d catch myself and say: ‘Oh, why are you so harsh [on yourself]?' I think we should all show more mercy and have more love for each other,” she asserted.

It’s why Sisley has been trying to compliment herself as much as possible.

"Each day, after I work out, I’ll tell myself: ‘Good job arms, you did a really good job today!'. I would do stupid stuff like that,” she giggled. 

Speaking of criticism, Sisley has unfortunately been dragged into scandals with multiple male celebs in the earlier part of her career.

She has been linked to actors Vincent Wong, Fred Cheng, Tony Hung and Dickson Yu, and the media also accused her of two-timing Hong Kong singer Hubert Wu with the son of a finance tycoon.  

At that time, some called Sisley a "seductress" who “has no qualms about getting into relationships with married men just for their money or power”.

When asked how she tries to avoid backlash now, she confessed: “You can’t prevent those hate comments but you can do the best you can. So from my past experience, I learnt that I can’t be too close to male actors because that can be misunderstood.”

Explaining that she “learnt that through a hard lesson,” Sisley shared that she’s “okay” now since she stopped doing what used to trigger people to think of her a certain way.

That said, Sisley admitted she felt "very wronged" at that time. 

“I am human and I have feelings, so of course those harsh words would affect me,” she said. 

“In my head it was all question marks, like: ‘Why is it wrong to be friendly or interact with your acting partner?’ Because if you’re not interacting, how can you show it on screen?” she questioned. 

Though Sisley felt lost back then, she eventually figured out that she has to “keep a balance” when it comes to such tricky situations.

“Try your best to show intimacy on screen, but at the same time, behind the scenes, you just have to keep your distance,” she laughed.

Sisley, just like everyone else, has parts of herself she's insecure about Sisley at the launch of BMF's new Cristal Pro Sculpt System

Catch Sisley in The Learning Curve Of A Warlord here. 

Photo: Mediacorp Photo Unit, Sisley Choi/Instagram