‘I was a mess’: how Hong Kong-born comedian turned her life around after serious illness

The title of Kiki Yeung’s 2025 comedy special, Don’t Get Sick and Die, always gets a laugh from others.
For the Los Angeles-based comedian, however, the phrase was not originally a punchline.
“It was everything coming out of my parents’ mouths,” Yeung, 47, says. “‘If your red blood cell count drops again, you’ll get sick and die. If you stay up late, you’ll get sick and die.’”
The warning became a constant refrain after Yeung survived a life-threatening autoimmune illness as a teenager. This experience would shape not only her approach to health and wellness, but also her comedy, career and sense of self.
Today, Yeung is a successful stand-up comic, actress, producer and touring headliner whose work often explores family expectations, cultural identity and mental well-being. Yet behind the laughter is a story of illness, recovery and the long journey towards self-acceptance.

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Born in Hong Kong, Yeung immigrated to the United States at age 12, settling with her family in Bothell, in the US state of Washington, shortly before Hong Kong’s handover to China.
The transition was jarring.
“It was a real cultural shock – from Hong Kong to the boonies, where it’s just grass,” she recalls.
The onset of a life-threatening autoimmune illness
Struggling to fit in, Yeung became increasingly withdrawn. She was teased for her accent and felt disconnected from her classmates. Then, at age 15, she had a sudden and critical health crisis.
She went on a theme park ride, and when it ended, her face looked like a “ghost”.
“I was completely white. And then a week later, my face turned orange.”
Her red blood cell count had dropped dangerously low. Doctors initially feared leukaemia and even began looking for bone marrow donors. She slipped into a semi-comatose state.
“They thought I was going to die,” she says.
After multiple blood transfusions and extensive testing, Yeung was diagnosed with autoimmune haemolytic anaemia, a rare disorder in which the immune system attacks the body’s own red blood cells.
While she slowly recovered, the illness left her physically depleted and emotionally shaken.
“I felt like I was damaged,” she says. “Like maybe I couldn’t do the things I wanted to do.”

The diagnosis coincided with a difficult period of adolescence, and Yeung says that between the ages of 17 and 25, she developed an unhealthy relationship with food, exercise and body image.
“I was lonely, depressed and suicidal,” she says. “I became bulimic, but I didn’t like to throw up. And then I became anorexic. I would live on cigarettes and Coca-Cola. I would smoke a pack of cigarettes just to stop eating. And then, after everyone went to bed, I would eat a whole box of cookies and all the leftovers in the fridge.
“I’d sit in my car and have a burger and fries with a cappuccino shake. Then I would cry about it, and would put on a waist trainer and tie it tightly around my waist and rock myself to sleep. And then I’d get on a treadmill and run so hard that I would injure myself. I was a mess.”
When did she turn things around?
Her wake-up call came when her parents were both diagnosed with serious illnesses: her mother with breast cancer, her father with nasal cancer.
“I realised then that I didn’t want to get sick and die,” she says. “I needed to be in control.”
Both she and her mother became deeply interested in nutrition, stress reduction and complementary wellness practices. Yeung sees them all as part of a broader personal journey that helped her reconnect with her body.
“I’m really into whole living,” she says. “Not just diet, but mind and spirit – eating well, prayer, meditation and taking care of yourself.”
Yeung believes a combination of medical care, healthier lifestyle choices, faith and emotional healing helped support her recovery over time.
“My blood is normal now,” she says. “The diet helped. My faith helped. Learning to take care of myself helped.”
Her daily routine reflects that philosophy. Most mornings begin with hot water with lots of lemon, honey and apple cider vinegar before she eases into work. She prioritises vegetables, fruit, fish, eggs and lean grass-fed and free-range proteins, and veers away from seed oils, opting for coconut and avocado oils instead.
She exercises several times a week – she uses resistance bands and weights for muscle toning, and loves punching and kicking the heavy bag at a gym in Los Angeles.

She singles out regular use of a vibration plate – an oscillating platform that sends high-frequency vibrations through the body – for benefits such as increased blood flow and lymphatic drainage.
Breathwork and meditation are part of a daily routine, as are praying and Bible reading.
I think a lot of people carry stress and trauma without realising it

Given her medical setbacks, Yeung says she has developed a sustained interest in the relationship between emotional well-being and physical health.
“Crying and really feeling your feelings helps,” she says. “I think a lot of people carry stress and trauma without realising it.”
One of the most significant parts of her healing, she says, involved letting go of the need for external validation.
“I finally stopped needing my mother’s approval,” she says. “You have to learn to love yourself, even if you don’t get the exact kind of love you wanted.”
That lesson would eventually become central to her comedy.
After years of pursuing acting and theatre, Yeung turned to stand-up. And what had started as a creative outlet quickly evolved into a career.
She went on to found Crazy Woke Asians, a comedy showcase highlighting Asian-American comedians, and has since built a devoted following through her stand-up tours, social media presence and Cantonese-language comedy.
“Comedy really changed me,” she says. “It taught me to be present. It taught me to connect with people.”
What themes does she dive into?
Much of her material explores issues she knows intimately: family pressure, cultural expectations, body image and mental health.
“A lot of women grow up feeling their worth is tied to how they look,” she says. “We’re taught to take care of everyone else first. But what about taking care of yourself?”
Those themes resonate strongly with audiences, particularly Asian-American women who recognise elements of their own experiences in her stories.

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A post shared by Kiki Yeung (@kikifunnymama)

Today, Yeung shares her life with her husband, Chuck Ng, and 10-year-old son, Sky, who has already started performing stand-up and occasionally opens for her on stage.
“It’s fun,” she says. “Maybe one day we’ll do a mother-and-son tour.”
Looking back, Yeung no longer sees her illness as the defining event of her life. Instead, she views it as the beginning of a journey that ultimately led her towards purpose, creativity and self-understanding.
“There was something in my spirit that knew I was meant for bigger things,” she says. “And I learned to stop saying ‘I’m sick’, or even ‘I’m going to get better’. Now, I just say, ‘I’m healed’.”
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