Less than two months after dropping the surprising news of his marriage and wife’s pregnancy, Malaysian-born actor Shaun Chen is now the proud father of a baby girl.
“I’m so, so happy,” gushed the pleased – albeit slightly tired-sounding – new papa in a phone interview with Toggle from Malaysia. The 37-year-old revealed that his wife Celine, a former beautician from Kedah whom he wed in July, delivered their daughter via natural birth in Alor Setar earlier this evening (he declined to reveal a specific time), after just two to three hours of labour. The baby weighs a healthy 3.38kg and arrived three days earlier than the December 8 due date.
During our conversation, Shaun, who was by Celine’s side throughout the entire birth, could not help but to constantly express his admiration for her bravery. “It was heart-breaking to watch her go through so much pain and not be able to do anything,” he sighed. “I’ve got to hand it to my wife – it’s not easy to give birth!”
But the agony turned to joy when the new parents finally laid eyes on their little girl. “When I first saw her, I thought, ‘Wow, she’s beautiful!’ (laughs)” Shaun recalled. “I can’t really tell if she looks more like her mum or dad yet.”
When asked if he has already decided on a name for his daughter, Shaun revealed that he plans to come up with a few options before consulting a fortune teller to pick the most auspicious one. He also has a few English names in mind, but refrained from sharing them “because we’re not sure yet”.
The new arrival hasn’t changed the fact that Daddy needs to go back to work here in Singapore, but the company kindly pushed back Shaun’s schedules (which include an imaging session for his newest Channel 8 drama, The Dream Job) a few days so he could remain in Malaysia to be with his newly-expanded brood a while longer. After that, he’ll spend the next three to four months shuttling between both countries before he starts making arrangements to relocate his family here, when things with the baby are more settled down.
In the meantime, although it will be difficult to be away from them, he is not worried as there are plenty of people, such as Celine’s mother, sister and a confinement nanny, to take care of his young family.
The birth of his daughter is just the latest in a series of fortunate events for Shaun. In April, he finally snagged his very first Star Awards trophy (the Rocket Award) at this year’s Show 1, before being crowned Best Actor for his role in The Journey: Tumultuous Times the very next week.
Shaun was previously married to former MediaCorp actress Michelle Chia from May 2009 to April 2011.