Wang Leehom saga: fallen idol crushes dreams of a generation of Southeast Asian female fans
- From Singapore to Malaysia to Thailand, he won hearts for being among a new breed of bilingual Asian stars who burst onto the scene in the 1990s and 2000s
- One fan who used to enjoy singing his songs at karaoke says she can’t bring herself to sing ‘Forever Love’ again. ‘He has ruined the song for me,’ she said
A fan of Leehom’s since the late 1990s, Chong said one of her favourite films he starred in is the 2007 erotic espionage period drama Lust, Caution, directed by award-winning Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee.
“He played the role of Kuang Yu Min, a patriotic and righteous Chinese college student,” she said. “His role required him not to take advantage of the situation by having sex with [co-star] Tang Wei. That left an impression on me, as it appeared to mirror him in real life as no scandals had been associated with him.”
Chong’s rosy mental image of Leehom fell apart on Wednesday last week, after he announced that he’d filed for a divorce from his wife – who swiftly responded with an Instagram post that laid out a list of his past indiscretions that included emotional abuse, serial cheating and visiting sex workers.
Jinglei also claimed that Leehom had cheated on her with men and women, both before and during their marriage.
Leehom styled himself as a ‘bai ma wang zi’ (prince charming). You’re telling me it was all fake?
Following the exposé, Singaporean singer Yumi Bai of BY2 and Taiwanese singer-actress Vivian Hsu publicly denied that they were Leehom’s “friends-with-benefits”. The saga deepened after Leehom’s father put out a handwritten note claiming that Jinglei had used pregnancy to force his son into marriage.
Jinglei, who has kept a low profile for most of the couple’s eight-year marriage, reacted with a detailed rebuttal of the claims made by Leehom’s father, and gave her estranged husband until 3pm on Sunday to apologise – even warning of legal action if the famous crooner did not comply.
