Gossipmongers took their dark art to a new level this week. ETTV News (東森新聞) called on the services of a lip-reading expert so that we could learn the latest twists and turns in the relationships between big-shot cram school owner Kao Kuo-hua (高國華), his employee and new flame Chen Tzu-hsuan (陳子璇), and his ex-wife, former news anchor Tsai Yu-hsuan (蔡郁璇).
One of the many installments of the sordid affair began with Tsai bursting into Kao’s office earlier this month and demanding that he pay NT$50,000 for their daughter’s school fees. The short visit resulted in a verbal bust up.
Both parties have been very cooperative in airing their dirty laundry in public, which has only fueled the media’s quest to uncover the truth.
Photo: Taipei Ttimes
Kao’s school released a minute-long, dubiously edited and muted tape recording of the quarrel on Monday, and ETTV News invited a lip-reading expert to decipher the content of the recording. The resulting “news” of insults hurled and court action threatened confirmed most people’s suspicions — Tsai and Kao don’t like each other very much.
While some can’t stop fussing about cutting the cord, others are racing to tie the knot. Taiwanese B-lister Ku Han-yun (顧瀚畇), better known as A-tan (阿丹), appears set to marry into a haomen (豪門, a super-rich family). The 30-year-old television actor will reportedly get hitched next month to Carol Wang (王曉萍), a 35-year-old businesswoman and heiress to a footwear enterprise worth more than NT$10 billion.
Having begun his showbiz career in 2002, Ku is best known for his romantic links to several female stars. The Don Juan’s 2004 fling with actress Kelly Lin (林熙蕾) is said to be the highlight of his feeble resume.
With a marriage date set, the actor plans to retire from the entertainment industry for good and work at Wang’s company as a fashion buyer. Ku tackled accusations of gold-digging head-on by saying the marriage would “save him 30 years of hard work” (少奮鬥30年).
Singer Gary Tsao (曹格), on the other hand, is returning to work. After a year-and-a-half hiatus resulting from a string of drunken escapades that earned him a reputation as a psychotic drunk, Tsao reenters the Mando-pop fold with his aptly titled new album Back in Control (曹之在我).
Pop Stop readers may recall the Malaysia-born singer’s past drunken indiscretions, which include kicking a sign (2006) and beating up a friend (2009). All that is a thing of the past, according to the reformed singer, who said he quit drinking almost a year ago.
Along with his newfound sobriety, Tsao is trying to win back gay-friendly fans irritated or confused by the married star’s “I am not gay” announcement made while receiving the Golden Melody’s Best Mandarin Male Singer Award in 2008.
In a recent interview, he told the Apple Daily that when young he had doubts about his sexuality and thought about trying out homosexual relationships.
“But my gay friends talked me out of it. They said to me: ‘You will like it after you try it, and you will never go back to the old way again,’” Tsao was quoted as saying. But if he were to have a gay romance, his first choice would be actor Eddie Peng (彭于晏) “because he has a pretty face and a beautiful body.”
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