Malaysian-born actress Sora Ma just got her first Mother’s Day gift.

The 41-year-old, who recently became a Singaporean in January, treated herself with her nine-month-old son’s ang pow money.

In a video uploaded to Instagram on May 6, Ma spoke to the camera while her baby boy, Skye, played with a red packet in the background.

She said: “I’m going to use the money in it to buy myself a Mother’s Day gift.”

Red packets are customarily given to babies by older relatives and friends in Chinese culture on special occasions like their birthdays or Chinese New Year.

The clip then cuts to Ma taking Skye out to shop in a department store. She initially tried on a a pair of sunglasses and told Skye: “It’s $120, is that over your budget? If it’s OK, kick your legs.”

Skye duly did so, but Ma eventually settled on a pair of gold and silver hoop earrings, though the video did not reveal how much it cost.

She then showed herself wearing the earrings as she kissed her son on the cheek. She said: “Thank you baby, for giving Mummy a Mother’s Day gift.”

Ma wrote for the caption: “It’s my Mother’s Day so I’ll spend it how I want... I don’t want to keep what I want in my heart, I want to guide him and put what I want into action, be a straightforward mother who is not afraid to express love and ask for love.

“This is my son’s first Mother’s Day gift to me. Thank you baby, because of you, now I get to enjoy Mother’s Day.”

She added that she has told herself in the mirror that she has been doing a good job as a mother.

“I hope to tell everyone: ‘No matter what you’re facing now in life, remember that everyone is here and being strong in their own way, so keep going!’”

The upcoming Mother’s Day on May 11 is Ma’s first as a mother since she gave birth to Skye in August 2024. Her Singaporean businessman husband, who was in his late 40s, had died unexpectedly, leaving her a widowed new mother. Skye was conceived via in-vitro fertilisation.

She only revealed news of her husband’s death in December 2024, six months after the fact.

The star, with credits in Mediacorp series like Channel 5’s This Land Is Mine (2021) and Channel 8’s Crouching Tiger Hidden Ghost (2021), has been regularly posting updates since she gave birth.

Some netizens had criticised Ma after she posted a tour of her new home on Instagram in April. One said that she looked “so happy, so soon after your husband died”, while another said she did not “seem to have an ounce of sadness”.

Ma had hit back in an Instagram Story, writing: “Am I truly very happy? Or is it that I’m just trying to live every day to the best of my ability? Or maybe I’m just trying to fake it until I make it one day.”

She added: “I do not need your sympathy. Why do I have to perform my sadness for you?” – The Straits Times/Asia News Network