Asian Film Foundation - 05/13/05 - Are these Asian stars married or not?

Pssst ... has Faye Wong tied the knot again? Is Andy Lau taken? FOONG WOEI WAN looks at Asian stars clandestine marriages.

[TheStar online]
by Foong Woei Wan

The paparazzi are probably living in fear that they might have missed Faye Wong?s second walk down the aisle, and who can blame them??

Since last year, rumours have been rife that the 35-year-old Beijing-born pop star is engaged to Chinese TV star Li Yapeng, who is in his 30s. ?

This is the woman who secretly tied the knot with singer Dou Wei in 1996. She stayed off the radar for months that year. By the time she was photographed at the Hong Kong airport in October, she was visibly pregnant and wore a wedding ring. Her daughter, Jingtong, was born the following year. Wong and Dou later divorced.?

So, who knows? Here?s a look at some real ? and rumoured ? celebrity marriages.?

WU BAI, 37?

Scoop: Taiwan?s TVBS Weekly alleged recently that the rocker wed his manager Chen Wen-pei, 42, on the sly in Hong Kong last year. ?

Wu held a press conference that night to clarify that the wedding did indeed take place, but in a hotel chapel in Fukuoka, Japan, two years ago. He said he gave her diamond earrings and a diamond watch at the nuptials and she ?gave me a pile of gold?. They returned to Taipei a week later to register their marriage.?

Shhh: His friends were kept in the dark. He said this was because ?we didn?t want a banquet and didn?t want any ceremony?.?

Happily ever after? It seems so. ?After getting married, each of us belongs to the other more,? he said.?

MICHELLE REIS, 34?

Scoop: Gossip has it that the actress married Chinese media magnate Tan Jun, 37, last year. ?

They were said to have thrown a bash to celebrate their engagement at a nightspot in Beijing early last year. But the wedding was said to be low-key.?

Shhh: The former Miss Hong Kong, who had been linked to actor Leon Lai and property tycoon Joseph Lau Luen Hung, once said she would keep her marriage a secret. Just last month, she told the Hong Kong press half in jest: ?I may be married already.??

Happily ever after? Tan was arrested last month for alleged fraud.?

ANDY LAU, 43?

Scoop: The Heavenly King has long denied that he is married to former Malaysian beauty queen Carol Zhu Liqian, 38.?

But Taiwan reports said she had a S$5mil (RM11.7mil) home in Malaysia and that she was known to her neighbours as Mrs Lau. A neighbour was also quoted as saying that he saw ?Mr and Mrs Lau watering flowers together on the balcony?.?

Lau?s aide has rubbished the report, however, quipping: ?Why aren?t there photographs of them watering flowers???

Shhh: Actress Yu Ke-hsin, 42, whom Lau dated in the 1980s, said in her memoir published this year that as his star rose, he became worried his heart-throb status would suffer if his fans knew of his love life.

Happily ever after? Zhu was spotted with a little girl in Hong Kong in 2001, leading to intense speculation that Lau had a daughter.?

But Lau denied it then, saying: ?I will be married within three years and then have four kids, one every year. When it?s time, I will tell everyone.??

We haven?t heard from him yet.?

ALAN TAM, 54?

Scoop: Cantopop?s Peter Pan confirmed in 1995 that his manager Shirley Yeung was his wife.?

He made headlines again last year when he admitted that he had an eight-year-old son, Hiu Fung, by his mistress Wendy Chu.?

Shhh: Tam seldom speaks of his marriage because Yeung ?does not like it?, he explained in 1995.?

Happily ever after? Apparently so. It was reported that he had permission from his wife, who is in poor health and childless, to be with Chu.?

He is said to be so good at handling his two households that the two women never argue.?

JACKIE CHAN, 51?

Scoop: In 1995, he confirmed tabloid talk that he was married to former actress Lin Feng-chiao and that they had a son, Jaycee. By then, the boy was 12.?

The couple got married in the United States in 1982, two days before Jaycee was born.?

Shhh: Chan had kept his marriage quiet for fear of upsetting his female fans. A Japanese teen committed suicide in 1983 after hearing that he was getting married.?

Happily ever after? It didn?t seem so when Chan?s affair with actress Elaine Ng, 33, produced a daughter, Etta, in 1999. But he claims to be a changed man these days.?

Lin, who lives in Los Angeles, is seen as a long-suffering wife. Reader?s Digest quoted her as saying last year: ?I turned my grievances into strength. I know happiness is not inevitable. If not for past grievances, how can there be comfort and happiness now??

? The Sunday Times/ Asia News Network?

Source: www.star-ecentral.com


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