The death of a loved one is often not easy to talk about, and some keep it buried in their hearts for a long time.

Ahead of what would have been Leslie Cheung's 69th birthday on Sept 12, one of his close friends, Hong Kong film producer Tiffany Chen, revealed the contents of a phone call the Hong Kong actor-singer made to her an hour prior to his death on April 1, 2003.

On Sept 7, the 65-year-old uploaded a video interview she did to Xiaohongshu, with the title "The secret behind Leslie Cheung's death left me feeling guilty for 22 years".

She recalled: "He said over the phone, 'Tiff, could you help me hold a press conference?' And I said, 'Okay, what do you want to say?' He said, 'I want you to be with me to tell everyone that I'm not sick and don't have depression.' And I said okay."

Tiffany told Leslie a staff member would liaise with him about the press conference and they ended the call.

She added in her video that prior to Leslie's death, he had been slated to direct a movie, but it fell through when funding did not come in time.

"He had been preparing for the movie for a long time and was very upset. He must have felt bad about it, but it couldn't have been that serious," she elaborated.

"In my opinion, he wasn't just depressed - there was something haunting him. If it was depression alone, he wouldn't have jumped off a building."

In 2002, Leslie starred in Inner Senses, a psychological horror film where he portrayed Jim Law, a psychiatrist who is haunted by ghosts. It was his last movie.

Believing that Leslie was experiencing something supernatural, Tiffany said: "A friend told me that Leslie would often feel something grabbing at him when he was asleep. However, his partner was Christian and a non-believer in the supernatural.

"Actually, we had ways to help exorcise Leslie, but his partner didn't let me contact him for half a year." As such, Tiffany expressed regret for not being able to help Leslie then.

SINGAPORE HELPLINES

Samaritans of Singapore: 1800-221-4444

Singapore Association for Mental Health: 1800-283-7019

Care Corner Counselling Centre (Mandarin): 1800-353-5800

Institute of Mental Health's national mindline: 1771 (24 hours)/ 6669-1771 (via WhatsApp)

Silver Ribbon: 6386-1928

We Care Community Services: 3165-8017

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kristy.chua@asiaone.com