MIRROR'S PERSONALITY If the name Choo Lay Keng doesn’t ring a bell, perhaps Carol Chu will.

No? Google up "long-time girlfriend”, and names like Mark Walhberg, Robert Redford and David Letterman will pop up, linking them to women with whom they have had long-term relationships.

Alongside such celebrity treats is Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau, taking the No. 2 spot in the search results, matched to - you guessed right - Carol Chu.

Carol was the part-time model who stole Andy’s heart 24 years ago. And the rest, as they say, is history.

She has been the woman behind the man for whom reams of paper have been written about. A man whose star power continues to hold sway, and who was once billed as one of the Four Heavenly Kings in Cantopop circles.

Carol kept low profile

The details of how Carol met Andy are hazy. She has kept a decidedly low profile all these years and has not been known to speak to the press.

One rumour has it that Andy stumbled upon Carol when he was on holiday in Malaysia. Another claimed Carol went to Hong Kong for a beauty course and was introduced to Andy by a close friend. Whatever the case, they soon became an item.

Carol was born in Penang in 1967. She was the fourth among five daughters in the family. Her seafood restaurateur father moved the family to Kuala Lumpur when she was still a young girl.

She took part in a beauty pageant in 1986 and was said to have been crowned Miss Modern Malaysia, though it was disputed, with some quarters saying she was just a runner-up. She was modelling part-time when she met the up-and-coming Andy.

Carol had a tacit agreement with Andy to stay in the background as his acting-singing career took off. It was a stealthy decision to cultivate his image as a single and available artiste.

Hence for over two decades, Andy kept his relationship with Carol close to his chest, leaving Hong Kong’s paparazzi and celebrity-hungry media guessing and fuming.

He eventually became one of Asia’s most bankable stars. Since his debut in 1982, Andy has starred in over 100 films that included The Warlords, House of Flying Daggers and Infernal Affairs.

The death of Carol’s father last month was a tragedy that was also a defining moment in the Carol-Andy saga. It finally confirmed what everyone had been figuring right all along.

Carol and Andy are lovers. They were seen tightly holding hands at the Hong Kong airport on arrival after attending the funeral of Carol’s father in Malaysia. Carol looked liked she had put on some weight and was seen cradling her belly, sparking speculations she could be pregnant.

It also turned out that they had flown to the United States last year to get married secretly. Records in Nevada’s Clark County, extracted by Hong Kong's feisty Apple Daily newspaper confirmed their marriage in June.

So Carol, once Andy’s girlfriend, has been officially Mrs Andy Lau for over a year now.

Explanation from Andy

In a brief message on his website, the 47-year-husband explained why he chose not to announce their marriage. He said he wanted to protect his wife while they tried to have a baby.

"I was afraid that if I announced the marriage, she would be stalked by reporters, so I made a selfish decision. I thought if things go well, I would tell everyone when the baby is stable, but instead I made things more complicated."

The couple chose to get hitched in the States because they wanted to have a child by artificial insemination — a procedure approved only for married couples in Hong Kong.

There have been unsubstantiated reports that Carol and her man were already parents to a son and daughter. Over the years, she has attended Andy’s concerts with a girl in tow, lending credence to the notion.

Although Carol and Andy have finally come out about their relationship, the media horde will continue to dog them, seeking every little juicy morsel of information they could dig up as they pander to the public’s insatiable appetite for a front-row view of the rich and famous.

All that is inconsequential now.

For Carol, it is liberating to finally be able to stride out publicly with a man whom she loves and devotes her life to.