When speaking of Gatita Yan aka Tong Lee Yan, two things come to mind. One, her confidence in her body and two, her ongoing, if unofficial, relationship with YouTuber Lim Shang Jin (林尚进) which might be ending soon. However, recently, Gatita took the opportunity to delve into her past with her fans and friends.
During Shang Jin’s video about past injuries, Gatita shared a very personal and dark time of her life. Apparently, the local internet celeb used to be in abusive relationship with her ex-boyfriend.
YouTuber Shang Jin occasionally does videos where he invites a group of people to talk about a certain subject. This time, Shang Jin opted to base his video on injuries they have experienced. The stories each of them shared were their personal experience. However, Gatita’s tale was the one which truly caught netizens’ attention.
Gatita stated she had been involved in a toxic and abusive relationship with her boyfriend. Their relationship had lasted a total of four years. Her friends were quick to ask why she had continued the relationship regardless of the hurt. She told them frankly that he had shut her off from everyone else. “I was restricted from making friends by my ex-boyfriend,” she stated. “Because I had no friends to support me, because I had no friends, I only had him.”
Additionally, her former boyfriend heavily skewed her sense of dependency. Gatita said she felt she could only rely on herself. Help from others was not to be trusted. She added that she only had him to rely on, but as he was so fickle, asking him could be detrimental as well. “If he (was upset), he would hit you,” she stated.
Gatita’s also shared her experience with him during a trip to Thailand. Apparently, he had gotten upset with her for talking merrily with others on the trip. As a result, he’d dragged her back to the room and hit her. He left her with bruised and swollen feet. When she attempted to defend herself, her ex-boyfriend immediately called the reception claiming Gatita was trying to attack him. The reception choose to believe him over her and she was left waiting in the lobby all night while her former boyfriend took the room.
She suffered without treatment during the rest of the trip as they had a lot of walking to do. Of course, the first thing she did upon arriving home was see a doctor. However, her ex-boyfriend lied to the doctor about her injuries, claiming she had gotten it while playing with jet skis.
Gatita stated that there was no point calling the police or asking others for help. “Even if you ask to borrow their phone, they won’t help you,” she said. “However, foreigners and Malays will help you.” Gatita clarified that she wasn’t being racist. “The Chinese are very cold-blooded. (They) think it is none of their business as it is between the two of you,” she stated. Gatita added that regardless of whether they thought the girl needed their help or not, they would ignore it and claim it wasn’t their business. Gatita finally got out of the relationship when she managed to contact her friend via Facebook. She added that she was much better now and is wiser when it comes to choosing her friends.
Gatita finally got out of the relationship when she managed to contact her friend via Facebook. She added that she was much better now and is wiser when it comes to choosing her friends.
Many netizens commended Gatita for surviving the abusive relationship. After all, it takes a lot of courage and determination to get yourself out of such a situation with the help of others.
