It’s been over a year since the Night Owl Cinematics (NOC) saga blew up and it seems like everyone has put the past behind them. Former NOC founder Ryan Tan is now managing 2 creative companies – namely Overkill and Remake – after hitting rock bottom and claiming to be in debt.
As someone who is fiercely protective about his personal life, we were pleasantly surprised to see the content creator being so candid about his romantic relationship with influencer Cherylene Chan. Following their joint interview with ZULA last week, Ryan bonded with DJ Sonia Chew over the large age gap with their significant other.
In the ZULA interview, Cherylene revealed that it was Ryan who made the first move by sliding into her DMs. As time went by, they started developing feelings for one another. It also helps that they have the same love languages – food (unofficial) and words of affirmation (official). Their first date was actually quite boring (his words, not ours), especially since it was during the pandemic.
“After CB (Circuit Breaker), there weren’t many places open and you can’t dine in. So our first date was at Cold Storage. It was a midnight grocery shopping,” Ryan was quoted as saying. In fact, it was Cherylene who paid for their first date. “He had forgotten his credit card, so I had to use my credit card to pay for the whole thing. He was very shy and embarrassed about it,” she added.
One consistent thing we keep hearing from both interviews is the fact that Ryan finds solace and peace in Cherylene. “The moment I open the door, she is excited to see me and she will come and hug me. She gives me the space and makes a home a sanctuary for me,” he explained. That wasn’t the case when he was married to former wife Sylvia Chan and described the previous marriage like a “war zone”.
“I used to avoid going home,” Ryan told Sonia on itsclarityco. “My ex-wife had mentioned that I always drive girls back, but the thing is, I drove everyone (guys and girls) back. After being scolded at work, my job was to comfort them. I also did that to escape from returning home. I dreaded going home to fight another war.” Many NOC talents have previously backed Ryan on this, insisting that Ryan has never acted inappropriately towards the girls and that Sylvia was just projecting her own insecurities.
While Ryan (34) and Cherylene (23) share an 11-year gap, Sonia Chew is 14 years younger than her investment banker boyfriend Jeremy Sng. Both men are divorcees. Huge age gaps tend to raise eyebrows, especially in Asian culture. Thankfully, Cherylene and Sonia’s parents were quite excepting of their daughter dating a much older man (and in Sonia’s case – an added baggage where Jeremy has kids from his previous marriage). At the end of the day, it’s every parent’s wish for someone to take care of their child and ensure their happiness.
Many people made an issue about their age gap at the beginning, especially since Cherylene was only 21 when they started dating 2.5 years ago. “I don’t understand this stigma though. Why do relationships have perimeters? By the public’s standards, must I only marry another divorcee?” asked Ryan. It is also inevitable that people will make comparisons to their previous relationships in terms of status, beauty, and success. Is it an upgrade or downgrade? Unfortunately, Cherylene would get comments online from people stating that Ryan is her Sugar Daddy.
At the end of the day, people are going to talk and form their opinions. Although Cherylene looks very young, Ryan insists that she’s one of the most mature women he’s dated. It also helps that she’s in the media industry (a talent under JianHao Tan’s Titan Digital Media). Following the public divorce from Sylvia, Ryan has also made a conscious decision not to work too closely with Cherylene in his videos. Find out why here:
