Growing up in HK, I spent a lot of time in this private garden and playground we had. Everyday was about going down there to be with my friends so we could roller skate, swing on the monkey bars and play volleyball. It wasn’t like how it is now where kids get lost in the Internet.

I grew up in a single parent family. My father passed away before I was even born. That’s why I never had the heart to hurt my mother. People go through a rebellious stage at some point of their lives but I never had that because I knew how hard it was for my mom to support me and my two sisters.

I never had a chance to work as anything else; my first job was singing. I entered a singing contest in Hong Kong which was similar to American Idol. I won second place and got signed right away.

The journey I went through after high school and the singing contest, as well as being thrown into the world of entertainment was really, really hard. There was a lot of waiting. People only see the glamorous side of it all. What they don’t know is that it takes months, sometime even a year to prepare for a concert. But the audience sees only three hours of it.

Mentally, you have to accept whatever life throws at you. You have to keep an open mind. Both positive and negative news need to be taken with a grain of salt.
I have a very strong work ethic. I always believe you must treat people the way you want to be treated.

My family’s always with me. That keeps me grounded. But like any other artiste, I do have two sides of me. At home, I’m Ferren. On stage, I’m Coco. I command that stage. I’m more powerful. But when you meet me in person, I’m like a girlfriend from high school. A lot of people who meet me say that I’m very approachable.

I think there’s a lot of sacrificing to do when you’re in love. In the beginning, Bruce [Rockowitz]and I didn’t want to go public because it was our private lives but it became scary when we had the paparazzi chasing us as if we were criminals. It was very dangerous. And we thought, “Forget it, it’s probably safer to come out and tell people that we’re in love.” Now they don’t bother us as much.

We’ve all had our hearts broken and we’ll always remember the guy who did it. When it happened to me, I was very young, probably in my early 20s. I was really crazy about the guy; he was my first true love. Then, I found out he was cheating on me.

I say it’s better that you find out he’s an ass now rather than later because you can get rid of his ass sooner. If he’s cheating on you, you don’t need him. You have to love and respect yourself.

To keep a relationship going, you always have to keep it hot. You’ve got to act like the mistress, the girlfriend and the wife. You can’t just be contented with what’s there. Bruce and I have been going out for nearly eight years and it still feels like the beginning.

I only started working out when I came to HK for my singing contest. I used to eat a lot. I realized I needed to lose weight when I noticed all these guys staring at my boobs on the MTR. Everyone should work out; it makes you feel so good!