Hong Kong actress and former martial artist, Maggie Cheung, recently appeared as a mentor on the Chinese variety show “Actor Please Take Your Place 3.” In the program, she shared her experience of sustaining multiple injuries while filming fight scenes, leading to a total of 89 stitches on her face. Her revelation shocked the audience, as she also disclosed that she had undergone plastic surgery to restore her appearance, resulting in a somewhat unnatural look that persists to this day.
In a recent episode of the Chinese talent show “Actor Please Take Your Place 3,” the production team asked actors who had undergone plastic surgery to step forward. However, most participants hesitated and avoided the topic, with only one internet celebrity admitting to having had procedures done. To ease the contestants’ discomfort, mentor Maggie Cheung bravely admitted, “I have had plastic surgery, and I have had 89 stitches on my face.”
Cheung explained that in her early years, due to frequently filming high-risk action scenes, various parts of her face such as the corners of her mouth, eyes, and cheekbones were injured by hard objects. To regain her appearance, she underwent plastic surgery, resulting in a somewhat unnatural look that she continues to carry. She encouraged the actors present to speak up bravely, stating, “Is there a problem with having plastic surgery? If it’s necessary, okay! It’s alright to speak up bravely about it.”
After the segment aired, many netizens praised Maggie Cheung for her dedication, commenting, “It’s hard to imagine how painful it must have been with 89 stitches,” and “No wonder, sometimes I felt her upper lip was a bit stiff, thinking it was due to her aging.” There were also humorous remarks from netizens, saying, “This isn’t plastic surgery, it’s restoration.”
At 65 years old, Maggie Cheung began her career performing martial arts at the age of 17. Known as the first female martial artist in Hong Kong, she initially survived in the industry by embracing injuries. In 1979, she played the role of Tsui Hong, a brothel woman in “The Story of Woo Viet,” marking her first leading role in her acting career. Prior to her, many actresses left the industry due to the fear of physical pain from fight scenes, paving the way for Maggie Cheung’s rise in popularity. According to Hong Kong media reports, she was genuinely hit during fight scenes without any protection, sustaining real blows. This film labeled Maggie Cheung as the “martial arts actress” and defined the first half of her acting career.
In a 2017 interview, Maggie Cheung mentioned that she had suffered injuries from filming in at least a hundred places, and as she grew older, she no longer wanted to harm herself and avoided doing fight scenes. However, last year she took on the movie “Count to Three” and within two months, she endured six fractures due to accidents like wire stunts.
With her outstanding acting skills, Maggie Cheung won the Best Actress award at the 1st Hong Kong Film Awards in 1982 for “Aces Go Places.” In 2017, she once again claimed the Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actress title for “Our Time Will Come” and also won the Best Actress award at the Golden Horse Awards for “The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful.”