SINGER Alina Hassan, 51, has gone from life in the limelight to cleaning toilets in a shopping mall. She once was a crowd puller after winning several professional singing competitions and cutting several albums.
Life drastically changed for the recording artiste after quitting the entertainment scene many years ago.
The Sinaran Passport Kegemilangan champion (1996) and Kilauan Emas finalist (2013), Alinashared her story of going from a life of splendour to that of squalor in a Sinar Harian's Facebook Live chat.
Alina said her troubles started after her divorce and she had to get a job. She became a security guard at a shopping complex in Kuala Lumpur before becoming a cleaner.
"I tried going back to singing but I never got that break as I had left the scene for some time, but I needed to survive, so I took on whatever job to pay the bills, including cleaning," she said.
Alina said she was at first shy to work as a guard or cleaner but came to terms with it as she was doing an honest job. She said she doesn't know if fans had recognised her while on duty, but sit didn't matter.
She has not given up the idea of returning to singing. When there was an opportunity to audition for singing competition Mentor Otai, she grabbed it.
She was selected as one of the competitors under the tutelage of Siti Sarah Raisudin.
"I may not be vocally good as I used to be but there's no harm trying my best and should I win (the competition), I will use the prize money to get a van and cleaning equipment to slowly start my own cleaning business," she said.