Malaysian actress says it is okay for women to reject men who earn significantly less
Malaysian actress Zarina Anjoulie has gone viral after saying that women should not feel guilty about rejecting men who earn significantly less than them.
Source: @anjoulielavocah1 on Threads
Her comment was made in response to a Threads post asking whether it was wrong for a woman earning RM8,000 (S$2,600) to reject a man earning RM2,000 (S$650), as she feared having to financially support him.
At the time of writing, Ms Zarina’s post has garnered over 13,000 likes on Threads.
Says she faced similar issues in two marriages
In her response, the 38-year-old said it was “not wrong” for a woman to turn down a man over such concerns.
Source: @aerty.co on Threads
She then shared that she had been married twice and claimed that she encountered the same issue in both marriages.
According to Ms Zarina, some men may try to “brainwash” women that couples should go through hardship together.
However, she argued that when women are struggling on their own, men may not necessarily step in to help.
She also claimed that when women do ask men for financial help, they are often labelled “gold diggers”.
“So why should we women have to suffer with men?” she questioned, adding that women should tell such men to “come back” when they are “earning more”.
Says ambition matters, too
However, Ms Zarina also went on to say that it is worth considering whether a man has ambition and is driven to improve his circumstances.
She said that if women can work hard to earn more, men can do the same, too.
For instance, there is nothing shameful about picking up a side hustle after work, such as driving for Grab or selling items, as long as he is hardworking.
Image by MS News, for illustration purposes only
Responses to her post were varied. Some commenters agreed with her, with one claiming that women are sometimes labelled gold diggers even when the men “[don’t] have any gold to dig”.
Others said it is more important to evaluate men by their character rather than their salary.
Previously called out ex-husband over luxury gifts
Ms Zarina’s comments also appear to reflect her own past experiences with marriage and finances.
In 2021, she publicly addressed her split from ex-husband Eilyas Azhar on Instagram Stories, where she reportedly asked him to return luxury items she had bought for him during their marriage.
She also said at the time that she was “not your sugar mummy”.
The couple tied the knot in July 2020 and first announced their split in January the following year.
Before that, Ms Zarina was married to a Bruneian man, with the marriage ending in 2016 after about a year. They share a son.
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‘It’s hard to not get tired’: S’porean women share reasons why they ditched dating apps
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Featured image adapted from @anjoulielavocah1 on Threads and pixelshot on Canva, for illustration purposes only.
