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A 38-year age gap separates former actor Edmund Chen and his actress daughter Chen Yixin, but the bond between them is warm and playful. “I’m very proud of my dad because he and my mum have created a really nice environment where we can talk about a lot of things, and they are very open to ideas,” said Yixin, 24. “I try to be involved,” added Chen, 62, who left showbiz 20 years ago to spend more time with his children. The father-daughter pair appeared in a Sumiko At 60 vodcast to discuss the issue of ageism in Singapore. Chen and his Mediacorp actress wife Xiang Yun, 62, also have a 32-year-old son, Chen Xi, an actor who is currently studying in London. Ageism is especially prevalent in the showbiz world and women seem to have it worse, said Yixin, who has appeared in shows including the Netflix series Mr Midnight: Beware The Monsters. “The moment you hit maybe 35, you are immediately categorised as being a mother, a mother with a sad backstory,” she said. Ageism of a reverse sort affects the young, too, which she encountered when she started her beachwear fashion brand Beike. “It’s hard when I go to meetings with investors or manufacturers and designers, they may think I lack credibility and accountability because of my age and the negative connotations of Gen Z,” she said. “But it’s nothing I can’t handle.” Chen said growing older has made him more aware of his limitations. “You are like a broken sink; water is leaking somewhere or other.” He has to work harder to maintain his fitness, which he said he does, not for aesthetic reasons but because he wants to be healthy and around for his family. As for whether she has stereotypes of older people, Yixin said she and her friends use the term “boomers” to refer to those in her father’s age group. “It’s an endearing term,” she assured her dad, laughing. “We don’t see it as an insult but more as a tease.” That said, there are certain traits of older folks like “oversharing on social media” and “good morning photos and messages in the morning, definitely you know it’s a certain generation that would do that... it’s so cute”. She added: “I always tell my dad you should be proud to be 62. Just be yourself, you are who you are.” Sumiko Tan Studio+65 & Sumiko Tan