Now that Cecilia Cheung (張柏芝) and Nicholas Tse (謝霆鋒) have ended weeks of rumors by formally announcing plans for a divorce, mentions of the former couple in gossip columns have fallen off precipitously. This must come as a relief to other attention-hungry celebrities.
Model and actor Mike He (賀軍翔) seized the opportunity for more exposure by releasing naked snaps from a recent shoot in the south of France. One photograph shows He, who has modeled for Club Monaco, Dior and Puma, on his knees looking demurely over his shoulder into the camera lens, wearing just a pair of tight gray underpants that leave nothing to the imagination. Another is a profile shot of He naked on a bed, holding a paperback novel and gazing pensively into the distance with only a rumpled sheet covering what the Apple Daily called “the third point” (第三點).
(Pop Stop readers will remember that Taiwanese media sometimes rate revealing photographs by “exposure points” (露點): one for a breast, two for both breasts, and three for a crotch shot.)
Photo courtesy of KATE book
The pictures are for a photo book that He’s publisher has reportedly spent NT$5 million preparing. It will be released just before He starts serving his compulsory military service, which gossip rags have previously accused him of dodging.
The Apple Daily reported that He had originally planned to bare just his torso. After arriving in France and having a long heart-to-heart discussion with his manager, however, He decided to mark his eight sexy years in show business by revealing the full glory of his well-muscled limbs, taut buttocks and ripped six-pack.
“I felt shy at first, but I want to create something that will let me remember being 28 years old and in my prime,” He said. “Also, I want to create a book worthy of collecting, that will get people really excited.”
But He still suffered stage fright. On the day of the naked photo shoot, he requested a closed set with just his photographer and manager present. His stylist forgot to prepare a fresh pair of briefs, so, as the Apple Daily put it, “He wore his own underpants into battle.” As the photographer gently nudged him into slipping off that final article of clothing, He was heard muttering “let’s do it!” while taking deep breaths.
Not all photos in the book will show He disporting in the altogether. One shoot features him wearing a striped Breton shirt and a scarf for that extra Gallic touch. In another set of pics, Ha frolics in a field of lavender and sensuously blows the seeds off a dandelion puff.
Despite the bucolic location, the shoot was not without its challenges. Video footage showed He grabbing his leg after stepping on a nettle. “Hey, help me!” he called out. “I don’t want to,” responded a cheeky off-camera crewmember.
Also paying extra attention to her body these days is Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛, aka Big S, 大S), who was rushed to the hospital last month after fainting. At the time, her mother blamed the collapse on Hsu’s vegetarian diet, though gossip rags speculated that she had been weakened by a rumored miscarriage.
Last week, however, Hsu let slip during the Beijing premiere of her new film My Kingdom (大武生) that she and her husband Wang Xiaofei (汪小菲) hope to become parents during the Year of the Dragon.
“I want to have a baby very soon and focus on my family,” Hsu said.
She also dismissed her fainting spell as the result of overwork and poor nutrition, adding that she has been taking traditional Chinese medicine to build up her strength.
Hsu told reporters that she hopes My Kingdom will be a “comma” in her film career, not a “period,” even though she is crossing her fingers that her menstrual periods will stop soon. If she does get knocked up, Big S plans to take a break from making movies, but says she will return to work as long as her figure snaps back into shape.
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