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NEW YEAR, NEW ME
The Straits Times
|January 01, 2026
When Singapore actor Leon Jay Williams looks ahead to 2026, the future feels like a fragile gift.
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Diagnosed in 2025 with Stage 2 thyroid cancer, the 49-year-old tells The Straits Times in a written interview: “Being diagnosed with cancer does motivate me to live life with different priorities, and not waste time on things and people that don’t matter.”
The initial shock was crushing for the actor, known for Taiwanese idol dramas such as La Robe De Mariee Des Cieux (2004) and Green Forest, My Home (2005).
“Initially, 1 was devastated at the news, thinking I wouldn't be able to see my daughter grow up,” the actor says. He has a 10-year-old daughter with his Taiwan-born wife, who is known only as Joyce.
“Then after a week, I gathered my senses and decided to face it positively, together with my family rallying around me.”
This story is from the January 01, 2026 edition of The Straits Times.
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