Astrid Leong

**Astrid Leong** is a Singaporean socialite and one of the main protagonists of the book series by Kevin Kwan.

## Background

Astrid Leong is the youngest child and only daughter of Harry Leong and Felicity Young. She is referred to as "The Goddess" in Singapore due to her beauty and impeccable fashion sense, being skilled with vintage brands and couture fittings.

Her old-moneyed Peranakan family, the Leongs, are implied to be even richer than the Youngs themselves, and are very conscious of their own image, preferring to keep a low profile and avoiding the press or scandal. She is close to her cousin, Nicholas Young, and is one of the few family members who treats his girlfriend, Rachel Chu, kindly.

By birth, she is a member of two prominent Southeast Asian families, the Leongs and the Youngs. Initially, in her university days, Astrid was engaged to Charlie Wu but was forced to break up with him due to her parents not viewing him as a suitable husband. He was the one who introduced her to high fashion and helped cultivate her fashion sense due to her parents not wanting to spend money so flippantly.

Astrid was later married to former military specialist turned businessman, Michael Teo, and has a son named Cassian with him. Their relationship becomes strained in the first book due to him being unable to tolerate his life as her husband, but they eventually reconcile. Astrid and Michael permanently separate by the end of the China Rich Girlfriend, and she rekindles her old relationship with Charlie Wu before settling down with him at the end of the series.

## Appearance

Astrid is widely known for her beauty, being described in the book as having a jawline too prominent for a girl, eyes set too far apart, a delicate nose, bee-stung lips, and wavy hair.

She is often described as being very alluring, or model-pretty.

## Crazy Rich Asians

### Book

Astrid Leong is first introduced at a Parisian banquet hosted by her close friends the L'Herme-Pierres, one of France's greatest banking families.

She is one of the only members of Nick's family that Rachel Chu had already met before her trip to Singapore, and is one of the few that openly welcomes her and treats her kindly.

After a night with her husband Michael, who is often away due to his occupation as an entrepreneur, Astrid accidentally grabs her husband's phone, and finds a text from an unknown number suggesting that Michael was cheating on her. Astrid becomes extremely paranoid about her findings, even getting herself into a car crash after failing to concentrate on the road due to her preoccupation with the issue.

She eventually confronts her husband about her revelations, and instead of denying them, he readily admits to them without much explanation, and voluntarily tries to pack his things and leave the house, shocking his wife.

### Film

The major difference between the film and novel is that in the film, Astrid finds out that her husband Michael has in fact been seeing a mistress, and reconnects with her ex-fiancé Charlie, when they see each other at Nick and Rachel's engagement party, instead of enlisting his help to investigate Michael.

## China Rich Girlfriend

Astrid's relationship with her husband Michael has recovered due to the sudden success of his business.

She is shocked when her father informs her that the success of Michael's company was due to an investment by Charlie Wu. She was later comes to realize that he did it out of love for her in an attempt to fix her marriage.

Astrid begins to reconnect with Charlie Wu and begins to fall back in love with her former lover, despite her already being married. Michael's personality also changes dramatically as a result of his success, making him tyrannical and intolerable to live with.

Eventually, Astrid confronts Michael and tells him that she wants to separate. Angry, Michael grabs a pole and threatens her for wanting to take Cassian with her. She eventually convinces Michael to calm down and she ultimately leaves with Cassian.

## Rich People Problems

Astrid first appears at an elite ladies' banquet at a Hotel in Singapore, which is crashed by her lover Charlie Wu's mentally unstable ex-wife, Isabel, who bursts into the banquet hall dragging her daughters along with her and throws a bowl of spicy noodles at Astrid, only for it to hit the Astrid's mother Felicity and the Dowager Sultana of Perawak.

Afterwards, Astrid goes to India with Charlie, where she receives an elaborate surprise marriage proposal from him. She is also stunned to find out that he had also secretly met with her grandmother Su Yi to receive her blessing.

Astrid later meets with Charlie's ex-wife Isabel, who has received treatment for her mental instability and appears to have accepted the relationship. However, Isabel is actually still unstable and had been working with Astrid's ex-husband Michael to ruin Astrid's reputation and blackmail her. Isabel attempts suicide during a manic episode and releases a video of Astrid and Charlie having intercourse that she had captured using a camera hidden in her daughter Delphine's stuffed animal.

Astrid is forced to flee Singapore in disgrace. She ended up hiding on the island of Palawan in the Philippines, where Charlie eventually joins her. Together, they create a new life for themselves as they raise their children. Astrid created her own designer clothing brand, and Charlie started to teach at a local school.

At the end of the book, she and Charlie attend the wedding of Goh Peik Lin and Astrid's cousin Alistair Cheng together, much to the discomfort of her mother.

## Personality

Astrid is known to be one of the more down-to-earth members of the Young family. She is kind, caring, sweet, polite, respectful, sincere and considerate.

She is also bold and willing to stand up for herself. After she learns that her husband, Michael has been cheating on her, she handles the situation calmly and divorces him, saying she can‘t make him into something he’s not.

## Trivia

* The name "Astrid" is of Scandinavian origin, coming from old Norse "Ássfriðr," which can be translated as "beautiful God"
* She is known to be 37 in Rich People Problems, and the books are each set 2 years apart from each other, she must be 34/35 in China Rich Girlfriend and 32/33 in Crazy Rich Asians