Appearing on a talk show hosted by Carol Cheng, Shu Qi was asked whether she “still does not want to have children.”

The actress responded: “No, it’s not that I don’t want children. I’ve always wanted to have a child, but I still can’t.”

The 49-year-old rejected assumptions that she and Fung had “chosen to be child-free,” sharing that they even took a year-long break from work to focus on trying to conceive. She added that they attempted artificial insemination, but the procedures were unsuccessful due to her age and other physical limitations.

Shu said her early fears about motherhood stemmed from difficult childhood memories, such as waking up at 6 a.m. to cook porridge for her family, only to be scolded if it was not done perfectly.

“I was afraid of having children, afraid I wouldn’t raise them well, afraid I would repeat my parents’ way of raising kids, and pass that pain on to the next generation.”

The actress spoke warmly of her husband, describing Fung as “the right person [she met] at the right time.” Before meeting him, she was wary of marriage and did not believe in loyalty in relationships, she said.

Born Lin Li Hui, she began her entertainment career as a teenager, initially appearing in softcore films before gaining the attention of prominent Hong Kong and Taiwanese directors in the mid-1990s.

She rose to fame with roles in “Viva Erotica” (1996) and “Bishonen,” and later expanded her international profile with films such as “The Transporter” and “So Close” (2002), “Three Times” (2005), “My Wife Is a Gangster 3” (2006), and “Love” (2012).

In 2023 she served on the main competition jury at the Venice International Film Festival. With her jury roles also at the Berlin festival in 2008 and Cannes in 2009, she is one of only three women artists of Chinese descent, after Gong Li and Maggie Cheung, to have judged at all three major European film festivals.

She first met Fung, now 51, while filming “Bishonen.”