Kao Kuo-hua (高國華). Chen Tzu-hsuan (陳子璇). Tsai Yu-hsuan (蔡郁璇). If you don’t know who these three people are, congratulations! You’re one of a select few who have yet to be tainted by the media frenzy surrounding cram-school mogul Kao, his lover Chen, and his estranged wife/ news anchor Tsai. The hullaballoo started a month ago when the then-not-so-famous Kao was papped playing an away game with cram-school teacher Chen in his Mercedes-Benz. Since then, media outlets have been tripping over themselves to scoop each other, television talk shows have fought to be the first to interview the concerned parties, and the Apple Daily has made not one but 15 News-In-Motion (動新聞) (http://zzb.bz/eKRR6) videos on the affair.
This, obviously, is an issue of great national importance. Thus, in the interest of the public good, Pop Stop has combed through the gossip media’s archives and provides the following highlights of this ongoing real-life soap opera.
Aug. 23
Eighteen days after news of the affair broke, Tsai breaks her silence and threatens to sue Chen for wrecking her marriage. Kao counterattacks — well, sort of — by noting that Tsai was “the other woman” who broke up his first marriage.
Aug. 25
The 54-year-old lothario changes his mind and says he is still deeply in love with his 31-year-old wife.
Aug. 27
During a television interview, Tsai says her daughter’s elementary schoolmates called Chen an “ugly cow.”
Aug. 28
A text message Kao sent to Tsai earlier this month is made public. It sees the wayward husband begging for forgiveness and describing his 37-year-old lover as “old and ugly.” After showing the message to the paparazzi, Tsai says she will take care of Kao even if he ends up penniless. Huh?
Aug. 29
Tsai tells the paparazzi that, in addition to popping sleeping pills and antidepressants, she tried to commit suicide when she found out about her husband’s extracurricular activities in July.
Aug. 30
Kao and Tsai are officially divorced. Kao calls Chen his “true love.”
The Apple Daily devotes an entire News-In-Motion episode to Liu Yi (劉毅), revered as a doyen in Taiwan’s cram-school, or buxiban (補習班), industry and said to be a business rival of Kao. Liu was also Chen’s mentor and employer for eight years before she left his school to work for Kao. An infuriated Liu calls Kao a shameless liar, but promises to extend a warm welcome to Chen — who he says is currently “possessed” — when she returns to her senses.
Hopefully, after the media circus subsides, some journos will also come to their senses and question why they should care so much as to whether or not Tsai lost her virginity to her college sweetheart, or if Kao is bald and wears a wig, and why they should present these findings as “news” to a national audience.
In other news, rumor has it that director Ang Lee (李安) will make a business trip back to the country this month for the Fox-financed US adaptation of Life of Pi, a fantasy adventure penned by Canadian writer Yann Martel about a boy who survives a shipwreck and spends 227 days on a lifeboat with a tiger, a hyena and a zebra.
Media speculation points to Taichung’s Shuinan Airport
(水湳機場) as a possible location chosen by the director to shoot the 3D movie, which reportedly has a budget of more than NT$2.2 billion (US$70 million). Though Ang Lee’s brother Khan Lee (李崗) is staying tight-lipped about the director’s new project, actors including Wang Lee-hom (王力宏), Guey Lun-mei (桂綸鎂) and Mark Chao (趙又廷) have already expressed keen interest in participating in the Hollywood flick.
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