Julie Tan prioritises her health following several health scares, including ovarian cyst rupture

Jan Lee
The Straits Times
March 27, 2024

Actress Julie Tan shaved her head in November 2023 to play a cancer-stricken social worker in the local movie Good Goodbye.

And at the film’s press conference on March 26, the 31-year-old was rocking her buzz cut.

She tells The Straits Times: “I like it. There’s no need to think about my hair. I used to get paranoid about whether there’s a gap in my bangs or wonder if my curls would last. But I don’t have such concerns any more. It just makes me feel happier and better.”

In November 2023, Tan posted a video on social media of herself getting her hair shaved off. She said she did not hesitate to go bald, as it was a “life-altering experience” to change her appearance to embody her character.

Actress Julie Tan preparing for her role in local movie Good Goodbye, which is about palliative care and cancer patients. PHOTO: MM2 ENTERTAINMENT

Tan stars in one of three storylines that make up Good Goodbye, which opens in Singapore cinemas on March 28. It revolves around the subject of palliative care and follows the journey of three terminally ill patients and their loved ones.

Tan plays Cindy, a medical social worker living with cancer who develops a romance with a nurse named Zheng (Tosh Zhang). 

Cancer, and other critical illnesses, can strike at any age – something Tan is deeply aware of, following several health scares in her life.

In 2018, an episode with gallstones – lumps of solid material that form in the gallbladder – landed her in hospital. She experienced pain, fever and nausea, and spent four days there.

And two years ago, she pushed herself to attend a work event despite suffering severe pain in her abdomen, which turned out to be an ovarian cyst rupture.

She recalls: “I was at a Louis Vuitton event at Marina Bay Sands and the pain got so bad that I couldn’t even stand. It was like someone took a knife and twisted it in my gut. I asked to go home and had to be wheeled out (of the venue) in a wheelchair. 

“I thought maybe it was gallstones again and I didn’t want to go to the hospital immediately. I even went home to take off my make-up before I went to the specialist for gallstones. But it turned out to be a ruptured ovarian cyst and I had to be admitted to the hospital. By then, I had been in pain for eight hours.”

Fortunately for Tan, it was a small cyst which required little treatment beyond pain medication and a brief stay in hospital, but it was still a wake-up call.

“I was so used to carrying on even when I was sick that I neglected my health. It taught me to really prioritise my health and learn that while I want to be professional, I cannot force myself to keep going when something is wrong.”

Tan may not work with cancer patients in real life – as her character, Cindy, does on a daily basis – but the star’s grandfather succumbed to lung cancer when she was a child.

“I remember visiting him in Malaysia and he could hardly breathe. He used to be quite plump, but after the cancer, he got so skinny and frail. It was the first time I realised life is very fragile,” she says. 

Local actress Teo Ser Lee – who plays a speech therapist helping a father (played by Andie Chen) and his child with brain cancer in another of the film’s storylines – has also lost a loved one to the disease.

In Good Goodbye, Teo Ser Lee (left) and Andie Chen (right) play a speech therapist and the father of a child with cancer. PHOTO: MM2 ENTERTAINMENT

Good Goodbye’s theme resonated strongly with Teo, whose mother received palliative care  after she was diagnosed with end­-stage liver cancer 13 years ago. She died a month later. 

The 58-year-old, who is the elder sister of former minister of state Teo Ser Luck, chokes up while talking about her mother.

She tells ST at the same press event: “It was really about pain management in the end. We gave her a cocktail of medication and she spent most of her time sleeping. She had also been suffering from dementia at that point for a few years. I was very close to her, so it was very difficult.”

Teo Ser Lee, who is also an etiquette and image consultant, knows it can be painful for family members to accept it is time for palliative care, which focuses on providing comfort and quality of life instead of aggressive treatment, as it can often feel like giving up.

Actress Teo Ser Lee plays a speech therapist in Good Goodbye. ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI

She says it is tough to go into palliative care “because you would want to fight to give your loved ones the best care and treatment, even when it is against their wishes”.

She adds that she has been unable to discuss end-of-life care plans with her parents.

“I couldn’t talk to my mum about it (before she died) and I still can’t bring myself to talk to my dad about it now either. It’s difficult and feels very suay (unlucky).”     

In Good Goodbye, actress Julie Tan plays Cindy, a medical social worker living with cancer. PHOTO: MM2 ENTERTAINMENT

Tan hopes the movie, which centres on how to let go and bid farewell to loved ones, can help people be more open and accepting about the process of grieving, be it after a loved one’s death or other traumas and difficulties in life.

“Grief is an emotion that shouldn’t be taboo,” says Tan, who previously opened up about her experiences with depression and self-harm on social media, and ended a four-year relationship in 2023.

“Death is not the only time you can lose someone. You’re also grieving when you go through a break-up, for example.

“Sometimes, people turn to alcohol or casual sex to process grief, but those are just distractions. The only way to process grief is to work through it and confront it instead of pushing it away.”

• Good Goodbye opens in Singapore cinemas on March 28.