“I know the quality that I can bring to the table,” Ly, 40, said in his interview with VnExpresspublished Tuesday.
He explained that he had never felt it necessary to be jealous of his wife for being more successful than him or making more money. “We both work hard and I have my own success.”
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Ly and Ha attend an event together. Photo from Ha’s Instagram |
Ly started dating the famous singer and model Ho Ngoc Ha, 39, shortly after coming to Vietnam to develop his career.
He soon got used to being asked about whether he compared himself to his more successful wife. He has repeatedly said it was not an issue for him, at least in financial terms.
He said he has never abandoned his acting career for his marriage. He just had a priority shift after having children with Ha, which saw him on screens less.
“I don’t think I sacrificed anything in my career, I still love film and I’m still working as a producer,” he said.
The six-year relationship also gave Ly the chance to look deeper into Ha’s personality and see a deeper side to her that she had never shared with anyone.
“I think she is doing a fantastic job, she raises children, she also cooks, she cleans, [she does] everything,” he said. “I don’t think people believe that.”
Ly admires Ha for putting so much effort into taking care of their family besides doing her job. He feels more motivated looking at what she does every day, and feels complimented when Ha shows him her more feminine side.
He also adores all of the three children he and Ha are raising: Subeo, son of Ha and her former spouse, Lisa and Leon, the twins from Ha and him.
He said he considered his step-son Subeo his “own child,” and said it was impossible for him to compare the emotions and thoughts he has for his three children, as “love is love.”
The couple has a common approach in teaching their children. They want them to be exposed to various languages from an early age, so Ly talks to them in Swedish, while Ha talks to them in Vietnamese. They are also enrolled in an international school that teaches in English.
For Ly, the past six years have not always been milk and honey. He said he and Ha argued, just like any other couple, especially at the beginning of their time together, due to differences in native languages, cultures, and ways of seeing things.
Ly thinks the fact that he moved into Ha’s house and lived together with his whole family immediately after they started dating might have played a role, as their lifestyles clashed more after that.
Both of them were not used to expressing what they felt for each other at that time, which led to misunderstandings.
“But we overcame that,” he said. “My relationships with them [Ha and her parents] even changed the way I look at life and I’m really grateful.”
Ly believes all a couple has to do to get over their hard periods is be romantic and consider towards each other,
“The romantic parts of a relationship need to be there all the time [instead of on special days only],” he said. “Something like helping the other do household chores when they need to rest [would work].”
Having grown up in Swedish culture, which encourages people to be open about their emotions, Ly finds it easy to perform such acts. He said Ha and him often give each other kisses, hugs, and even comfortably hold hands in public.
All in all, Ly seems to really enjoy his current life.
“If I stayed in the US or something, maybe I would have been more successful [career-wise]but that doesn’t really matter,” he said. “At the end of the day, what matters is three things: you have your family, your friends, and love.”
“Now I have everything.”
Ly was born in Sweden, to a Vietnamese mother and a Swedish father. He started pursuing a career in entertainment in 2011 before going to Vietnam to develop his career in 2014. Since then, he has been active as an actor, a movie producer, model, and businessman.
Ha started her career in the entertainment industry in 2000. Since then, she has been a pop singer, model, and actress. She has been dubbed the “queen of entertainment” in Vietnam.
The couple married in 2020. They are planning to hold a wedding ceremony by the end of this year.
