Lea Salonga confirms separation from husband Robert Chien after 22 years

After more than two decades together, Tony and Olivier Award-winning performer Lea Salonga has confirmed her separation from husband, American businessman Robert Charles Chien.

The couple, married since 2004, share one child, 19-year-old son Nic, and remain amicable co-parents.

In a candid interview with local media, including the ABS-CBN | TV Patrol, Salonga shared: “Yeah, we're (son Nic) both busy, but thankfully, the dad and dad's partner are the ones kind of...‘may sipon ka? here. Let's send you food. Let's make sure that you're well.’ So, yes, yes, it's not a secret... we've been separated for a while, and now he's happy, and I'm happy that he's happy.”

During a media call for Les Misérables: World Tour Spectacular in Parañaque City, Manila, the theatre icon emphasised their ongoing mutual respect without delving into details.

Chien serves as Managing Director of QV Software, an entertainment software firm specialising in digital solutions for the gaming and media industries, as per his LinkedIn profile and QV Software website.

He is based in Los Angeles, California, where the couple wed on January 10, 2004, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Of Chinese and Japanese heritage, Chien was introduced to Salonga by his cousin, Christine Yasunaga, during her 2002 Los Angeles run in Flower Drum Song.

He proposed that July.

She's voiced Disney princesses Jasmine (Aladdin, 1992) and Mulan (1998), boasts over 60 million albums sold worldwide, and received the Order of National Artists of the Philippines in 2023 , as per the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

Salonga, a Filipino soprano with unparalleled credentials, rose to global fame as Éponine and Fantine in Les Misérables (West End and Broadway), earning Olivier (1990) and Tony Awards (1991) for Miss Saigon as Kim —making her the first Filipino and youngest actress at 20 to win a Tony.

Currently, Salonga stars as Madame Thénardier in Les Misérables: The World Tour Spectacular, with the Manila leg running January 20 to March 1, 2026.

Son Nic, 19, follows his mother's path as an actor and singer, debuting as Moritz in Manila's Spring Awakening on February 13, 2026.