Solved! The geezer, the young bride and the miffed son

However, when you’re 83 and marry a woman who’s 38, you’re expected to do some public explaining.

So it’s been unusual this week seeing the esteemed director handing out interviews like candy. The subject is inevitably his recent wedding – he and businesswoman Pimsupak Insee tied the knot in the final week of 2013. 

All we knew about Chalong outside of his 64-year filmmaking career was that he had a happy family and that his sons Gun and Cherd regularly helped him on the set. And when Chalong shifted to TV series, Gun was often in the cast. 

Sadly, Sumon, his wife of 48 years, died early last year, but Chalong soon enough found another companion in life. It’s unusual for Thai men to marry a woman so much younger, though, and tongues were wagging, especially when the wedding came so soon after his first’s wife’s funeral. Gun didn’t help matters by shooting off his mouth on Instagram, suggesting his father was somehow denigrating the memory of his mother. 

Chalong assured interviewers that his relationship with his son remained secure, even if the boy’s public comments did upset him a bit. He was quick to point out, as well, that Pimsupak’s family is quite well off, so anyone who thinks she only married him for his money is way off base.

They spent their honeymoon and New Year’s at the bride’s home in Si Sa Ket and then Chalong returned to Bangkok to begin answering nosy people’s questions. A mob of reporters watched his interview on Channel 7’s “Khun Paak” and he explained that he liked Pimsupak the first time they met. “She’s my type – I like simple, gentle, chubby women!” he laughed.

“Why should I have to wait another two or three years to get married again? I’m 83. I can’t wait any longer. I have a lot of projects to do and I need someone beside me.”

Chalong said it never occurred to him that 83 years of age is “too old” to fall in love. “I still think of myself as being young. Age is just a number.” Asked (probably with a smirk) whether they planned to have a baby, Chalong said that’s up to nature. And, as for the family fortune, he said he’d prepared his will after Sumon died, leaving all his assets to his current children. 

Then it was over to the “Woody Talk” studio, this time with Gun in tow, to tape the segment that was broadcast yesterday. Chalong came right out and asked Gun to apologise for his hurtful comment online. Gun readily acceded, apologising to his stepmother as well. 

Gun later expressed relief at having cleared the air, though he was hesitant to admit he’d done anything wrong in the first place. What he said on Instagram simply expressed the fact that he misses his mother a lot. Invited to comment further about his stepmother, Gun said nope, let’s end all this sensationalism.