Chen Ting, the wife of Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, recently took to social media to express her concern over her husband’s health due to overwork.
In a Weibo post she shared on 14 February, Chen said that her 71-year-old husband’s health deteriorated due to his work and has been relying on medicine to continue doing everything.
“The 2022 Winter Olympics have successfully started, but I don’t think anyone is looking forward to its end as much as I do… From the beginning, I didn’t support him becoming the director of the opening and the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. The pressure and hardships in 2008 were unprecedented. No one even knew about that… This time, I asked him did you forget? Do you want to do it again? He didn’t answer, and I knew it was going to happen again, and he is now in his seventies.”
Chen said that Zhang works all the time except when he is asleep, and would sometimes even wake in the middle of the night to work. The director eats very little, and would walk five kilometers each day for exercise when he desperately needs rest.
She added that she can’t stand this kind of self-harm and is afraid that one day Zhang will suddenly collapse.
“The Winter Olympics is drawing to a close, and everything is complete and successful. This is the result of the prosperity of our great country and all the hard-working staff. Everyone said that as long as the director is there, we would feel at ease. I knew he would not stop there, but silently hoped that the father of my child would be able to accompany us in good health for a long time,” she expressed.
Zhang, who helmed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics, was appointed to direct the Winter Olympics this year despite the pandemic and freezing weather. The closing ceremony will be held on 20 February.
(Photo Source: SINA)