Twice-divorced Kim Lim on jailed first ex-husband: 'We're still close friends... I still love him a lot'

Lim Ruey Yan
The Straits Times
April 12, 2024

Local socialite and beauty entrepreneur Kim Lim is still on good terms with her first ex-husband Kho Bin Kai, the father of her six-year-old son.

The 32-year-old single mum shared more about their relationship in Part Two of her sit-down interview with local social media personality Xiaxue, which was uploaded on Xiaxue’s YouTube channel on April 9. The first part of the three-part video series, Kim Lim Tells All, was uploaded in November 2023.

Lim, daughter of Singaporean tycoon Peter Lim, registered her marriage with Kho in February 2017. She gave birth to their son Kyden in July 2017, but the couple divorced in 2020 due to differences in their thinking.

“We didn’t quarrel or anything to break up,” Kim Lim told Xiaxue in the interview. “We just agreed, like, okay, maybe it’s different, then we just go (our) separate ways. It was a mutual decision and we just divorced nicely.”

Lim added: “We’re still close friends, we support each other. I still love him a lot.”

In May 2023, Kho was sentenced to two years and 10 months’ jail and fined $40,000 after he had earlier pleaded guilty to three charges under the Remote Gambling Act and two counts of dealing with the benefits of criminal conduct.

He began his jail term later in May 2023, with Lim appearing in the State Courts as a show of “support and encouragement” for him.

In January, the 33-year-old Singaporean was also fined $3,200 and banned from driving for two years for drink-driving when he held only a provisional driver’s licence, after pleading guilty to three charges.

Lim said in the interview that Kho is a very good father and takes care of Kyden a lot.

“Even till today, Kyden still asks me where he is and I don’t know how to answer him,” she said. “I’m not intending to tell him yet... I will tell him next time, when he’s older.”

She does not consider her nuptials a shotgun marriage, as she had wanted a child. They had been dating for about a year before she found out she was pregnant.

She then kept her pregnancy under wraps; Kyden’s arrival surprised many and made headlines.

“I wanted to have a child because, at that point, I was already 26,” Lim said. “He wanted a kid too.”

She added: “At first I thought I (didn’t) want to get married. Only when I was going to (deliver), then I realised, cannot, because I have to put the father’s name on the birth certificate.”

They ended up registering their marriage in a small ceremony.

On what her parents think of Kho, Lim said: “They like him, until today. Whatever has happened, we still support him.”

Lim married her second husband Leslie Leow – who is in his 30s and reportedly worked in the IT industry – in a lavish, star-studded wedding in February 2022, but they split up two months later.