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he next time we see Fiona would be two months later. We decide to meet for a late lunch
at brunch joint Wild Honey at Scotts Square. The past couple of days have been cold, so
chilly that Singaporeans were spotted, un-ironically wearing their Uniqlo fleece jackets out
’cos the temperature had dipped to 22 degrees Celsius (thank you, global warming?).
Fiona arrives wearing a metallic mesh knit Alexander McQueen dress. It’s the type
of dress — sexy, cool, and unpredictable (I mean, it’s metallic and knitted!) — that
T only Fiona Xie can pull off. Her hair, now black again, is pulled back in a ponytail. She
had come from a nail salon at Far East Plaza, but only the nails on her right hand are done. “I told [the
manicurist] that I have to leave by 1.40pm, but I think she didn’t hear me right,” she laughs. “So now I gotta
go back to do the rest of my nails after lunch.”

We take a while to decide what to order and in won’t worry about [money], but it’s obviously secure
the end she settles on steak frites while I have the and comfortable and nice to have.”
English breakfast set. We’re feeling a tad festive (no “Back in the day, I was like the endorsement
judgment please, it’s pretty much the New Year still) queen and it was such a golden time to be in.
so we have glass of wine each, red for me and white People ask me, do you feel sad that it’s Rebecca
for her. “I know I should be having red but it makes [Lim] now? And I’m like, no! Everyone has their
me very sleepy and I would probably be lying on the time! I’m very happy for her! That’s how life is, it’s a
table by the end of the glass,” she says. cycle. I appreciate the quiet time for me to invest in
We end up chatting about everything, like her me. People are always like, “What projects are you
days traipsing around the globe and the stuff she working on?” But they don’t understand the concept
has seen on those travels. She has really interesting where you go away and you have a period of time
anecdotes that we sadly can’t print here ’cos she where you see the world and you come back and
says “they are too close to [her] heart”. But maybe you realise that it’s okay to have quiet time. It’s okay
one day, when she finally has the time to sit down to not have to constantly achieve something. I think
and organise her thoughts, she says might publish a this is a very important thing to teach youngsters.
book about them. That not everything is Instagram happy. Life can be
We also talk about the projects she’s working quite challenging and you have to bite the bullet
on now — “I’ve got a small boutique design sometimes. And I am biting the bullet to buy that
consultancy where I help my private clients and sanity and to buy that self-worth.”
some friends to curate their art collection or help On record, she has a way of saying nothing that
find pieces they’re looking for in their design stuff,” is already known. It seems her days as one of
she explains to those who aren’t privy to what Singapore’s No. 1 watercooler subject has caused
Fiona does off-camera — all of which sound very her to develop some kind of PTSD when it comes
fascinating but of course are off-the-record. to getting profiled in the media. “It’s why I love and
She’s always been known to be not the easiest hate the media,” she says.
star to interview and neither time away from the She tells us about a run-in with a local
spotlight, nor, um, wine, has changed that. It’s newspaper who had tried to print a story about how
not ’cos she doesn’t have anything to say. On the some people had claimed they had gotten “exotic
contrary, actually. She’ll be the first to admit that she photos” of her. “I had already denied that those
has a habit of “rattling on too much”. Like when we photos were of me. But they were still planning
ask her if she ever worries about money, Fiona says: on running them,” she huffs, and we realise it’s
“Always. But I’ve always been the kind of person probably the only time we’ve seen her so upset.
where [money] has never been a metric to me. I like “They would have to mosaic everything but by then
really beautiful design, which, unfortunately, comes they would already be damaging my reputation! At
with a price tag. But then at the same time, I think I that time I had already left showbiz, so why are you
can live really simply as well. As long as I can make doing this? Why do you want to destroy me? Why?
do or cover my needs and also have enough to bless To prove that you can? I’m not the enemy here.
someone else, that’s enough for me. I don’t have I was in Hongkong then and I had spent a lot of
the hoarding thing where I need to have this or that money hiring a lawyer…. But you know, I feel that
as an anchor. Everyone needs that basic security there’s still integrity. I still believe in human good.”
but I can also be in deficit to help someone else We’re glad that she still believes in the good
who is in need. You know what I mean? So like I of humanity, or journos for that matter, because

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