Stanley Ho - Personal Life

Personal Life

Ho has 17 children born to four women. He refers to his children's mothers as his wives. Polygamy remained legal in Hong Kong until 1971. Also, he was rumoured to have numerous undisclosed relationships.

In 1942, Ho married his first wife, Clementina Leitao, a woman from a prestigious Portuguese family – her grandfather was a lawyer and was Macau's only notary public at the time. They had four children. In the late 1950s, Ho met Lucina Laam King-ying, whom he legally married in Hong Kong, in 1962. Leitao was involved in a motor vehicle accident in 1973, and suffered partial memory loss as a result. Following her car accident, Leitao needed constant nursing care; Ina Chan, who became Ho's third 'wife' in 1985 and with whom Ho has had three children, was one of the nurses brought in to look after her. In 1981, Ho's and Leitao's son Robert and daughter-in-law, Melanie Susan Potier ("Suki"), died in a car accident; Leitao died in 2004. Fourth 'wife' Angela Leong On-kei, with whom Ho has had five children, met Ho in 1988 at a private ball.

Ho handed over the reins of STDM to daughter Pansy Ho, who is also a 50 percent partner in MGM Macau; son Lawrence Ho is the CEO of Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd, another Macau-based casino company. Josie Ho (何超儀) is a rock singer and award-winning actress. His grandchildren are a perennial subject of local social columns and paparazzi.

Over the years, dancing has been one of Ho's favourite hobbies, achieving excellence in tango, cha-cha-cha, and waltz. He often danced for televised charity fundraisers and has sponsored numerous dance performances in Hong Kong and Macau, including the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the Macau Arts Festival, promoting the art of dance. He has also invited internationally renowned dancing groups, such as the National Ballet of China, to perform in Hong Kong and Macau. Ho is a patron of the Hong Kong Ballet, the International Dance Teachers Association and is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Dance.

A thoroughbred racehorse owner, one of Ho's runners, Viva Pataca, named after the currency of Macau, won several top Hong Kong races in 2006 and 2007.

Ho suffered a fall late in July 2009 at his home and required brain surgery as a result. For seven months Ho was confined to the Hong Kong Adventist Hospital and, later, the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital, making only one public appearance on 20 December 2009, when he travelled to Macau to meet Chinese president Hu Jintao on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Macau's return to Chinese sovereignty. Ho was discharged from the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital on 6 March 2010 and has since used a wheelchair.