MOVE over, Fiona Xie. There's a new pair of celebrity breasts that netizens are gushing over these days, and they belong to... actress Pan Lingling.

Yes, the same Pan Lingling who has been known to be conservative and always covered-up. And, yes, the same low-profile mother of two boys with actor husband Huang Shinan. They married in 1996.

Since she appeared in an episode on TV last week donning a skimpy bikini in the drama serial Beach. Ball. Babes, Lingling has become the talk of the town for her ample bosom. Never mind that the leading stars of the show are three of the so-called Seven Princesses - Joanne Peh, Jesseca Liu and Dawn Yeoh.

Lingling plays a fashionable flight stewardess who gives birth at age 19 but refuses to allow her daughter (Dawn) to call her mum in public.

The actress, who calls herself "the appetiser to introduce the three princesses", had all but one bikini scene, but it was enough to dominate the local net buzz for more than a week.

And according to netizen Roxy on the popular forum Hardwarezone, even the uncles in kopitiams were gushing over her assets. A separate Beach. Ball. Babes thread had other netizens ogling her bikini photos from the show - we counted 30 shots - and raving over her good figure.

On Mycarforum, netizens discussed how Lingling's cleavage "really puts (co-star) Dawn to shame".

The reaction is all the stronger because the 38-year-old Lingling has never revealed much skin in her 20-year acting career. Except for a bust enhancement advertisement which was done last year, she has rarely been photographed in any outfits with plunging necklines.

On Tuesday, during an interview with The New Paper, she recounted how she once burst into tears trying to negotiate with a drama producer to allow her to wear a sarong over her modest one-piece swimsuit in a scene.

Until Beach. Ball. Babes, she had never worn a bikini. When she goes swimming with her kids, she's mostly in two-piece tankinis that offer more, erm, coverage. So, why did she decide to bare it now?

With a laugh, she said she didn't know she had to wear a bikini in the serial. And when she did, she gave all sorts of excuses to try and get out of it. "I was so stressed for three months, because wearing a bikini is an impossible task for me... What if you can see my stretch marks? Can't I just wear a two-piece?"

But she caved in after much thought. "There's an exception to everything, and I thought, okay, just wear it, lor." Then, it was a matter of finding the right bikini. She rejected the first three pieces offered to her, because "there's just too little cloth".

She finally decided on wearing two bikinis at one go for added protection - a polka-dot piece on the outside and one rimmed with orange-coloured ruffles inside.

LOST 2 KGS

To look her best, she dieted and did leg lifting exercises every morning to tone her abdomen. The 1.7m tall actress shed two kilos to weigh 53kg now.

But the actual eight-hour filming in Sentosa was still an awkward experience for her. "For the first time in my 20 years of acting, I didn't know how to stand and where to put my hands," she said with a laugh.

"I felt scared in the beginning, but as the filming progressed, I was so hot and hungry that I just wanted to finish and go." But the hard work has paid off, judging by the rave reviews she's been getting so far.

Even her good pal Zoe Tay, the queen of sexy bikinis, was full of praise for her new image - how it's more sunshine-feel than sexy.

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Hubby Shinan, who was away in Malaysia when Lingling filmed the scene in April, also gave her full marks, after watching it on TV.

He told The New Paper: "I can only say that my wife looks very beautiful, and her (bikini) scenes are just nice and not too deliberate." He said he tried to persuade her to wear a bikini for his eyes only, but it was too late - she had already returned both pieces to the sponsor.

As for her sons Beckham, 9, and Kynaston, 6, Lingling said they never paid any attention to her bikini and were more impressed that she could play beach volleyball. When told of netizen comments, the chatty actress burst into laughter.

But she doesn't think of herself as a hot mum. "I'm far from sexy," she said with a self-deprecating laugh. But viewers may beg to differ. One memorable scene in Beach. Ball. Babes had Dawn fainting. Lingling bends over to
support her, and in the process, steals the limelight from Dawn.

With a laugh, Lingling said: "I know in that scene, people don't see Dawn fainting. They can only see the background (ie, Lingling's bosom). See, she fainted all for nothing!"

Lingling, however, wouldn't reveal her bust size, and insisted that it has not changed since her puberty days. "Let the viewers guess," was her coy reply.

While she doesn't mind posing in bikinis for fashion magazines if offers come her way, she said she will not be going swimming with her kids any time soon.

"People used to look at my face when they see me, but now, after this, they're going to look at my figure. "It's not good to show too much skin too often, although once in a while, it's refreshing."

This article was first published in The New Paper on July 19, 2008.