The mudslinging continues in the ongoing saga that is the relationship between actress and household name Chen Mei-fen (陳美鳳) and her estranged husband, “David,” who she has denounced as a freeloader.
Earlier this week, the nation’s “most beautiful obasan” (最美麗的歐巴桑) — obasan is a Japanese word often used to refer to an older woman — spoke in detail about their failed relationship in a TV interview.
Chen, who managed to keep their marriage a secret until last month, revealed that her husband’s full name as Hsu Fu-ching (徐福慶). She announced her divorce (and marriage) after discovering that Hsu was having an affair.
Photo: Taipei Times
The 55-year-old sought to clear the air when it came to the facts about their relationship: She was not Hsu’s xiaosan (小三), or “other woman,” when he was previously married; and Hsu was divorced when he started to court her. She also denied giving Hsu NT$500,000 so he could pay alimony to a second ex-wife. Though she did give Hsu money, it was to help his advertising company cover a bounced check, she said. And to her knowledge, Hsu was married only once before.
Some media have reported that Chen and her sisters often spent their free time playing mahjong while Hsu was relegated with the tasks of serving tea and preparing meals. She says it was the other way around: Hsu was the one mad about mahjong, and it was she and her assistant who attended to their tile-shuffling guests.
Chen has also accused Hsu of being uncooperative in light of their break-up. She says Hsu promised that he would move out of their NT$40 million luxury apartment in Taoyuan County at the end of last month. He has yet to depart, and called building security after Chen sent her assistant there to pick up a few of her things.
“That property is wholly owned by me,” the Apple Daily quoted an indignant Chen as saying. “I am not at all worried that he will take my things. He has really done enough freeloading — give him an inch and he’ll take a mile.”
Chen, who is said to have provided financial support to Hsu and his two children from a previous marriage, also revealed that she adopted a son several years ago, which prompted strong objections from Hsu.
“This was my foster father’s last wish before he died, to have a son carry on our family name ... but David was strongly against it,” she said. “I’ve embraced his family, why couldn’t he be more open-minded?”
As of press time, Hsu has yet to respond.
In recent weeks, Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹), better known as A-mei, has kissed not one, but two rumored ex-boyfriends in public.
It was done all in the name of show business, of course. On Sunday, the pop diva wrapped up her AMeiZING tour, a run of eight blockbuster stadium shows that featured guest appearances by Mando-pop royalty such as Jody Chiang (江蕙), Show Luo (羅志祥), Jay Chou (周杰倫), Harlem Yu (庾澄慶) and Wang Lee-hom (王力宏).
The crowds were roused by A-mei’s rocking duet with Chiang and a dance routine with Luo. But it was flirtatious encounters on stage with Yu and Wang — both marked in the gossip press as past love interests of the female pop icon — that drove audience members into a frenzy.
Yu appeared at the third concert, singing two steamy duets with A-mei, during one of which the pair shared a kiss. Yu later had the crowd cheering when he bent down on one knee and offered a mock wedding proposal to the singer, presenting her with a plastic ring.
Not to be outdone, Wang, who appeared at the final concert, came on stage dressed in an Aboriginal costume. The pair staged an elopement scene in which Wang declared to A-mei, “I’ve come to take you back to Taitung.” This prompted the audience to chant “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” and the pair obliged with a peck on the lips.
Both kisses looked awkward and fake to Pop Stop, but a few reporters quizzing A-mei after the concerts insisted they looked “real” enough to wonder whether any of the singer’s “close friends,” such as her latest rumored love interest, a man known only as Sam the Bartender, would be jealous.
“No, not at all,” she said.
In other news, television celebrity Dee Hsu (徐熙娣), better known as Little S (小S), gave birth to her third child, Alice, last week. The 33-year-old cohost of the popular variety show Here Comes Kang and Xi (康熙來了) is expected to return to work next month.
Behind a car repair business on a nondescript Thai street are the cherished pets of a rising TikTok animal influencer: two lions and a 200-kilogram lion-tiger hybrid called “Big George.” Lion ownership is legal in Thailand, and Tharnuwarht Plengkemratch is an enthusiastic advocate, posting updates on his feline companions to nearly three million followers. “They’re playful and affectionate, just like dogs or cats,” he said from inside their cage complex at his home in the northern city of Chiang Mai. Thailand’s captive lion population has exploded in recent years, with nearly 500 registered in zoos, breeding farms, petting cafes and homes. Experts warn the
The unexpected collapse of the recall campaigns is being viewed through many lenses, most of them skewed and self-absorbed. The international media unsurprisingly focuses on what they perceive as the message that Taiwanese voters were sending in the failure of the mass recall, especially to China, the US and to friendly Western nations. This made some sense prior to early last month. One of the main arguments used by recall campaigners for recalling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers was that they were too pro-China, and by extension not to be trusted with defending the nation. Also by extension, that argument could be
Aug. 4 to Aug. 10 When Coca-Cola finally pushed its way into Taiwan’s market in 1968, it allegedly vowed to wipe out its major domestic rival Hey Song within five years. But Hey Song, which began as a manual operation in a family cow shed in 1925, had proven its resilience, surviving numerous setbacks — including the loss of autonomy and nearly all its assets due to the Japanese colonial government’s wartime economic policy. By the 1960s, Hey Song had risen to the top of Taiwan’s beverage industry. This success was driven not only by president Chang Wen-chi’s
The centuries-old fiery Chinese spirit baijiu (白酒), long associated with business dinners, is being reshaped to appeal to younger generations as its makers adapt to changing times. Mostly distilled from sorghum, the clear but pungent liquor contains as much as 60 percent alcohol. It’s the usual choice for toasts of gan bei (乾杯), the Chinese expression for bottoms up, and raucous drinking games. “If you like to drink spirits and you’ve never had baijiu, it’s kind of like eating noodles but you’ve never had spaghetti,” said Jim Boyce, a Canadian writer and wine expert who founded World Baijiu Day a decade
RSS