Since the whole Emperor Entertainment Group debacle of lawsuits and counter-suits broke out, starlet Isabella Leong Lok-sze has been lying low, mostly outside Hong Kong. But she resurfaced in public over the weekend at the American premiere of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

The third instalment of the Mummy movie franchise, co-starring Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh Choo-kheng, features Leong (above) in a minor role, and she arrived at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Los Angeles, dressed to impress in a black Valentino number.

The last time she showed up at a public event in Hong Kong was possibly a shop opening in December. At that time, there were already rumblings about Emperor 'freezing' her out of work. When the lawyers got involved in March, the writ hit the fan as Emperor sued Leong for breach of contract. She countered that the pact was unreasonable. And then there were those rumours of a romantic and business relationship with Richard Li Tzar-kai. It's no wonder she retreated to sunny California for a three-month English-language course at Stanford University.