To generations of Hongkongers, she is Fei Ma, or “Fat Mama” – a beloved singer, actress and television chef whose booming voice and hearty recipes feel like a warm embrace.

But in the past decade or so, Maria Cordero has adopted a new, more polarising role through her political expressions, which have complicated her legacy.

At 71, she is a study in contradictions: a Macau-born musician of mixed heritage who became a Cantopop singer, a victim of abuse who became a symbol of strength, and a comforting maternal figure who has somehow begun to regularly court controversy.

Born Mariam Maria Cordero Bibi in Macau in 1954 to a Portuguese father and a Chinese mother, Cordero began receiving donations and supplies from the Canossian Daughters of Charity to support her underprivileged family when she was around seven years old.

Tragedy struck at nine years old when her father died. She and her family subsequently relocated to Hong Kong’s Sai Ying Pun neighbourhood when she was 10.