Kieu Mai Ly: 33 years without a title, lonely at 80, husband and daughter passed away

Artist Kieu Mai Ly was born in 1949 in a poor family of 10 siblings in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City. Before she was 1 year old, Kieu Mai Ly was given to an infertile couple nearby by her parents for adoption.

Because her adoptive parents loved her so much, even when her biological parents wanted to take her home, she refused to go. Her adoptive parents were poor, so from the age of 8, every morning at 3am, Mai Ly would go to the market alone with a basket to get noodles and vegetables for her parents to sell.

My eyes were closed because of sleepiness but my feet reflexively walked to the noodle seller's place, got the noodles, carried them back to my mother, then climbed back into bed and slept until 6 o'clock to get up for school.

At the age of 10, Kieu Mai Ly already knew how to carry water for hire to earn money to help her parents, then after school she would wash dishes at the noodle shop so her parents wouldn't have to spend money hiring someone to help.

Kieu Mai Ly has been passionate about reformed opera since she was a child. Near her house there was a theater troupe of artists Thanh Huong - Hong Minh. Every day after school, she would go watch the opera for 2-3 hours.

Seeing that their daughter loved singing and had talent, when Kieu Mai Ly was 12 years old, her parents took her to study traditional music with teacher Nam Dong, sometimes paying her a cup of coffee or a bowl of noodles.

Kieu Mai Ly was good at everything she studied, so after a short time her teacher took her to sing. At the age of 16, Kieu Mai Ly sang for the Hoa Xuan Minh Ha troupe.

Main roles, tragic roles, flirtatious roles, poisonous roles, old women roles... Kieu Mai Ly accepted them all. That's why Kieu Mai Ly's acting career became better and better and she was sought after by many big troupes.

During the years when Cai Luong was popular, Kieu Mai Ly was a popular actress of many famous troupes such as: Da Ly Huong, Thanh Minh - Thanh Nga, Tran Huu Trang...

Not only affirming her talent on the cai luong stage, when moving to the comedy stage and movies, Kieu Mai Ly is also a name loved by many people. When she became famous, Kieu Mai Ly did not forget to show her gratitude to both her adoptive and biological parents.

When she was a girl, Kieu Mai Ly was pursued by countless men. Among them, there were men who were both young, beautiful and rich, but the female artist refused them all.

However, the famous cai luong actress fell in love with a man 20 years older than her and had an unsuccessful marriage. After only a few months of knowing each other, Kieu Mai Ly moved in with him without a wedding or marriage registration, despite her parents' strong objections.

Three years later, the artist gave birth to her first and only daughter, named Hong Dao. Only then did her parents accept their son-in-law and grandchild.

Not long after giving birth, artist Kieu Mai Ly and her husband pooled all their assets to open the Tay Giang Kieu Mai Ly singing troupe and registered their activities in Can Tho. The troupe was loved by the audience when an incident occurred. The troupe was confiscated and made into collective property.

Once wealthy, the couple suddenly became penniless, lost their house, and had very young children. Kieu Mai Ly sold each of her singing costumes to have money to buy rice. After that, the female artist sang for the Thanh Minh - Thanh Nga troupe while her husband worked as a ticket inspector.

Kieu Mai Ly and her husband went through the most difficult days together, taking turns carrying basins to catch leaks in the house, giving each other pieces of meat to the point that for a whole week, the meat was still intact because one person gave it to the other.

From nothing, the artist couple rebuilt and built their own house. But their happiness was short-lived. In 2006, artist Kieu Mai Ly's husband fell ill and passed away.

She and her only daughter, Cai Luong actress Hong Dao, relied on each other. Then in November 2022, her daughter also passed away after a long battle with cancer at the age of just over 40. This incident almost broke the female artist born in 1949.

She once confided to Vnexpress that when the doctor said her daughter only had 6 months to live, she felt like the world was falling apart. "Exactly half a year later, I held back my tears and prepared for my daughter's funeral alone," the artist shared.

When her son first passed away, she wanted to follow him. Every time she picked up his belongings, she cried. Thanks to the constant encouragement from the audience and colleagues, she gradually recovered and accepted the loss.

The female artist admits she is lucky to still have an adopted grandchild - a relative who was protected by her daughter in the past.

At the age of nearly 80, she still lives on the income from acting. She confided to Vietnamnet that just staying at home for about 3 days without performing makes her bored and sick. Just hearing someone call her to perform makes her happy as if she had taken a miracle drug. She doesn't care about the amount of salary, for her, being able to work and meet colleagues is the joy of old age.

Artist Kieu Mai Ly's current life is not rich but not poor either. She is content with what she has. In a clip posted on Ngu Long Du Ky channel, she said that because she lives alone and is lonely, she is very hospitable.

The Ngu Long Du Ky group only planned to visit her house to wish her a happy new year, but she invited her to stay and cook, eat, and make many delicious dishes. The female artist even gave lucky money to her juniors who came to visit her house during the New Year.

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