Model and actress Peng Hsin-yi (彭馨逸), more commonly known by her stage name, Cindy Yang (楊又穎), who committed suicide earlier this week, was a victim of online bullies, her elder brother said yesterday.
In the past few months, Peng’s family had accompanied her on visits to various clinics and hospitals in an attempt to help her get over the anonymous online abuse that had targeted her, her brother said.
Peng had been troubled by her suspicions that those who were spreading rumors about her might have been her close friends, he said, adding that she had not known whom to trust.
Citing a suicide note found next to her body on Tuesday, he said that Peng had hoped her death could help highlight the issue of bullying.
People should not take their online comments lightly and should not become “an accomplice in verbal bullying,” he said.
Peng’s brother did not want the media to identify him by name.
An entertainer with promising career prospects, Peng was found dead at her residence in Taichung. She was 24.
Along with the note, a metal canister reportedly containing helium was found beside her body.
She was one of the hosts of variety show Love Player (愛玩咖) between 2011 and 2013, and made her movie debut in First of May (五月一號), which is due to be released next month.
Peng was the daughter of Peng Tso-kwei (彭作奎), who served as minister of the Council of Agriculture from 1997 to 1999.
Speaking to reporters, Peng Hsin-yi’s brother said that her family does not want to identify those who had bullied his sister. The family only hopes that her death makes more people denounce anonymous online abuse, he said.
The news of Peng Hsin-yi’s death shocked and saddened fans as well as other entertainers, who have expressed an outpouring of sympathy in addition to outrage over online bullying.
Much of the abuse targeting Peng Hsin-yi appeared on a Facebook page that is not associated with any particular person, but operates like a blog or a forum.
Many of the posts do not mention Peng Hsin-yi by name, but instead use Chinese characters that sound like “Cindy Yang.” Her stage name in Chinese was Yang Yo-ying.
The posts apparently targeting Peng Hsin-yi call her phony, naive and hypocritical, among other things.
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