SHE kicked her husband out of their bedroom to spend a romantic night with Edward Cullen.

Edward may just be a fictional character from the vampire romance novel series-turned-movie franchise Twilight, but he's also the hottest bloodsucker in town.

Not only are children and teenage girls fanatical about it, Twilight fever has hit an older generation of mothers as well - labelled Twi-mums.

New Moon, the big-screen follow-up to last year's Twilight starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, opens in cinemas here next Thursday and sneaks this weekend.

Housewife Madam Karin Goh, a mother of two teenagers aged 18 and 19, said she is 'crazy in love' with British actor Pattinson, who plays Edward, the intense, tortured, vampire paramour of human schoolgirl Bella Swan (Stewart).

Her husband had refused to watch the Twilight DVD for the ninth time a week ago, so she made him spend the night on their living room couch.

Madam Goh, 50, told The New Paper: 'Ever since I watched the first movie, I was so drawn into the plot about the forbidden human-vampire romance. It's like he can't have her, yet he wants her so badly and will do anything to protect her.

'He is every girl's fantasy and I can watch the movie over andover again and never get enough.'

Twi-mums are a new phenomenon that has even earned a place in cyberspace urban dictionaries.

The definition?

'A group of adults who have children and/or are married, who are overly obsessed fans of the overrated Twilight book series. They usually spend their time neglecting their children.'

Neglect may be too harsh a word, but some Twi-mums here have admitted that they haven't given their children their full attention because of Twilight.

For example, 31-year-old housewife Yanti Dewi recounted how she made her husband stay home to look after their two boys, aged 2 and 3, while she went out to catch the movie with her friends.

Another time, she was so engrossed in the book that she forgot it was feeding time for her kids.

Said Ms Dewi with a laugh: 'I was scolded by my husband.He said, 'Can you just put down the book and look after the children?'

'Since then, I read the books or watch the DVD only after my children have gone to sleep.'

Ms Dewi already owns Twilight posters, keychains and calenders which she got from the US, but her biggest wish - if she didn't have maternal duties and responsibilities - is to fly overseas to a Twilight event so that she can meet Pattinson in the flesh.

Another Twi-mum, accounts manager Koh Soo Nee, 40, said she would pay up to $50,000 for a chance to meet Pattinson.

But wouldn't her husband mind?

No, Ms Koh insisted, as 'the money is mine and I can do whatever I want with it'.
She even bought 10 copies of The New Paper FiRST's The Twilight Saga: New Moon Special issue yesterday ' two to keep and the rest to give her Twilight- crazy friends - for exclusive content on her favourite vampire.

But what exactly is Pattinson's appeal as Edward?

Ms Dewi said that in the book series, he refuses to sleep with Bella and wants to wait until they are married.

In contrast, Bella keeps egging her celibate boyfriend on and he still 'shows excellent self-control'.

Madam Christina Ho went so far as to say that if Edward existed in real life, she would 'drop everything to marry him'.

Cling to fantasy

Said the 33-year-old mother of four kids, aged 2 to 10, with a giggle: 'But please don't tell my husband I said that! There is a reason why women like to cling on to such fantasies. It's because they do not get it with their spouses in real life.

'I love my husband very much but sometimes I wish he could be as giving as Edward and like him, ask for nothing back in return.'

Housewife Nurul Huda, a 20-year-old mother of two children, aged 2 and 3, also joked that Edward has literally taken the place of her husband - on their wardrobe door.

She had pasted many pictures of her husband on the door, but took them down 'one by one' and replaced them with magazine cut-outs of Pattinson.

Even if there was only one picture of the actor in a magazine, she would buy the entire publication without hesitation.

Ms Huda - who also bought the Edward figurine from online shopping site eBay and still can't bear to remove it from its box - said when she first went to a bookshop to buy the Twilight book series, she was dismayed when told that it was sold out.

When the salesman saw her still standing there 'looking very unhappy' after one hour, he gave her the shop's Twilight standee as a consolation.

Said Ms Huda: 'So now I have the standee which is not sold elsewhere. I was delighted. Why did I stand there for so long when I knew I couldn't get the book, I don't know myself.

'I was just so disappointed, I didn't know what else to do.'

But once she bought the book series, she spent every night from 10pm to 5am reading it and admitted that 'it felt like I was in my own fantasy world'.

Lucky for her, her husband was 'understanding' and didn't stop her from enjoying the books.

Another Twi-mum, however, has a husband who went the extra mile to get her all things Twilight.

Ms Marit Seet, a 35-year-old business development executive and mother of two boys, aged 4 and 6, has the books, the DVD, movie companion book guides and soundtracks, all courtesy of her doting partner.

And although the couple have watched Twilight together, she watched it again on her own when she was on leave.

Said Ms Seet: 'I only take leave to spend time with my kids. Watching it myself was very enjoyable.

And if we were to have another child, I think Cullen would be great as a middle name no matter if it were a boy or girl.'

Die,die, must Twi

THERE'S another breed of Twi-mums in town - the Twi-mum wannabe.
Among them is local actress Pan Lingling.

The 38-year-old celebrity mum was not obsessed with Twilight - yet - when The New Paper first spoke to her early yesterday.

But she wanted to know the series 'inside out' so that she can bond with her 10-year-old son Beckham, who is a Twilight fan.

Said Lingling: 'In fact, I've rented the Twilight DVD and will watch it later so that I can talk to him about it.

'I have bought all four books for him and I hope to be able to share this craze with him when he returns.'

Beckham is currently in Taiwan on a student exchange programme and will be back in Singapore tomorrow.

He had begged his mother to buy him the Twilight books as he is fascinated with skeleton-related stuff and all things werewolf.

New Moon, in particular, focuses on Bella's growing friendship with her werewolf pal Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner).

Lingling confessed that she was 'stressed out' when she had no clue about the Twilight universe.

She had sought help from fellow local actress Ivy Lee's 12-year-old daughter Mikki, whom Lingling had seen reading the book.

Mikki had told Lingling that although she did not understand all the 'descriptive phrases' in the book, the plot was easy enough to grasp.

When we called Lingling again after she had watched the DVD later yesterday, she said she had already 'been sold'.

Her husband, local actor Huang Shinan, and younger son, 7-year-old Kynaston, were also hooked.

Apparently, Kynaston managed to find the books although Lingling had hid them.
She had wanted Beckham to finish reading his other enrichment class books first before starting on the series.

'Kynaston just came to me and said, 'I open the Twilight books for elder brother already',' she said with a laugh.