As of Monday, local TV's favourite Michelles' MediaCorp contracts had expired, and both didn't renew them - but for very different reasons.

Michelle Chia, who has been acting since she was six years old, wanted the break to smell the roses and do more charity work.

Michelle Chong, on the other hand, has chosen to concentrate on her production company and talent agency.

Chia, 36, told The New Paper: "This has always been on my agenda... I'm very happy and excited, it's a nice feeling.

"There are so many things that I wanted to do, for example, teach yoga. And now I will have the time to do it."

The sexy actress-host added that while she has no plans to look for a job any time soon, she is confident that she can enjoy her break without financial worry.

Chia owns Twister hair salon, which has three outlets in Singapore.

Apart from her business, she said that she has also made sound financial investments.

A spokesman for MediaCorp's artiste management unit confirmed that Chia's contract has expired.

"We are in discussion with Michelle for a new contract with a different working arrangement as she wants more time on her end," she added, but declined to comment on the details of Chia's previous contract.

Both Chia and Chong did not make the Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes list at the Star Awards 2012 Show 2 on Sunday.

But both had made it to the list just the previous year.

Some netizens had questioned if their decision to leave had something to do with that, even though the "most popular" list is decided by public voting.

When asked, Chia laughed.

"It's coincidental, I really don't know. There's no point speculating.

"If you buy 4-D, would you want to win? Of course. But you don't keep looking at the numbers and keep wishing to win - it's not your choice."

But will Chia consider returning to acting full-time?

"Never say never", she replied, adding that she will still take up hosting and acting projects as and when something sparks her interest.

Chia will be hosting an upcoming Channel 8 social documentary tentatively titled Borders, in which she travels to country's borders - such as the United States-Mexico and India-Pakistan borders - to find out why people cross borders.

She has already filmed an episode in Thailand where she interviewed Burmese folks who live in dump sites to collect trash as that earns them more money than other jobs back home.

But enough about work.

To celebrate her newfound freedom, Chia flew to New York on Monday night for a three-week holiday with her cousin who stays there.

She said: "To be honest, I have no idea what I'm going to do (during the break from work).

"You know how people see things at certain points in their lives and they want to buy it, and when they can buy something, they don't know what to buy?

"For now, I need time to find the things I want to buy."

This article was first published in The New Paper.

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