Wicked has become one of the most hyped movies in recent memory, but Michelle Yeoh required some coaxing to get her to follow the yellow brick road to Oz.
When Jon M. Chu, who had directed Yeoh in Crazy Rich Asians, asked her to play Madame Morrible, magic teacher to Ariana Grande’s Glinda and Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba, she hesitated. “I read it right away and I said, ‘But Jon, it’s a musical – she sings, right? Well, you know, I don’t sing,’” Yeoh, 62, told US Today, revealing that an encouraging video message from Erivo and Grande sealed the deal. “How do you say no to two angels, right? If you’re going to have to do it, you better do it with the best.”
Yeoh’s career has been a winding path, peaking with her Oscar-winning performance in 2022’s Everything Everywhere All at Once. In 1990, Yeoh, a former Miss Malaysia and aspiring ballerina, walked away from her career as an action movie star. Having married Hong Kong film producer Dickson Poon in 1988, she was ready to retire and throw herself into a new role: wife and mother.
“It was my choice. I felt that if I wanted this to work, I had to give it my all,” she explained in a recent interview with The Sunday Times. “I’d had a good career, a good run of what I was doing. I was in a very good place and that is the time when you decide what is important. I really wanted to start a family.”
Sadly, she discovered she was unable to conceive. “Maybe that is the biggest sadness in my life, that I cannot have kids. But the beauty is that I have six godchildren, many nephews and nieces,” she continued. “I don’t live with regrets because I have always given it my 110 per cent. I did everything to make it work, and sometimes even that is not enough.”
Yeoh had previously spoken about her fertility struggles on the Goop podcast in January. “We did whatever was necessary. Unfortunately, I was physically unable to,” she shared. “I knew my ex really wanted a big family … not just one son, but two sons or three even better. He was working hard for a big empire, and he needed sons to carry on his lineage.”
Yeoh split amicably with Poon in 1992, and her career kicked back into gear, starting with Police Story 3: Super Cop, co-starring Jackie Chan. She went on to star in huge hits, including Tomorrow Never Dies and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and found love again in 2004 with ex-Ferrari CEO Jean Todt.
The couple were engaged for almost two decades before finally tying the knot on July 27, 2023, during a small civil ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland. They had a second wedding in Yeoh’s hometown of Ipoh, Malaysia in December 2023.
Days later, Yeoh revealed on Instagram that her stepson, Nicolas, and daughter-in-law, Darina, had welcomed a baby on New Year’s Day. “We are so truly blessed… can’t tell u how happy I am for this very very special bundle of joy,” Yeoh captioned a post with photos of the newborn. “Thank you, darling Nicolas and Darina, for making us the happiest and proudest Grandparents!! Welcome baby Maxime.”
Riding a career-high, Yeoh, who is set to star in the Amazon Prime series Blade Runner 2099 and has a role in the upcoming Avatar films, now spends her downtime hiking in the hills in Geneva and doting on her baby grandson.
“In life we say, you have to not go around holding your hands like this,” she told The Times, with her fists clenched protectively in the air. “You have to learn to let go, and sometimes letting go helps you move forward.”
