Leslie 'held us nieces and himself to high standards'

Ayesha Macpherson Lau, niece of late star Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing, said her uncle was kind and that her family members are all proud of him.

Talking about Cheung for the first time in public, Lau said Cheung was a diligent person and her role model.

"For the public, he was an excellent artist and people all remember his work ," she said. "But I also want people to know that he was a very nice and kind person. He was responsible to his family, devoted to his lover and loyal to his friends."

Lau said Cheung was her mother's youngest brother and was close to the age of her twin sister and herself.

"During family gatherings, he used to play with us most of the time He also helped tutor and take care of us."

"[Cheung] was a strict person who also set a high standard for himself, so he also had a high standard for us because he wanted us to improve. I thought he was mean when I was young but I realized it's his way of loving us after I grew up," she added.

Lau said she and her twin, Alisha Abbas Macpherson, used to make Cheung angry during tutorial sessions in primary school.

"He had to take the tram and the bus to come to my home every day. However, me and my sister did not want to study or do our homework, making him angry all the time."

But Cheung would still take them to have dim sum and buy them gifts, even though he was only a secondary school student and did not have much money.

Lau also said her husband Lawrence Lau Juen-yee, former president of Chinese University, is the one she "respects and loves the most."

She married Lawrence Lau, who is 22 years older, in 2010.

Lau said her marriage with him is one of the biggest achievements in her life, adding she is lucky because her husband is smart and nice.

She said he gave her a puppy when she retired from the accounting sector in 2021, as he said she can be more gentle and learn about unconditional love.