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Actor Wu Xiubo and actress Chen Yulin are embroiled in a public spat about a ‘break-up fee’. Photo: Handout

Chinese romcom star Wu Xiubo at heart of ‘break-up fee’ blackmail storm

  • Wife claims actress Chen Yulin, Wu’s purported former girlfriend, persistently demanded millions of yuan to end their relationship
  • Chen detained by police in Beijing after returning to China, Chen’s parents say

The wife of one of China’s most popular actors has broken her silence over a case of alleged blackmail, accusing a woman claiming to be her husband’s former girlfriend of demanding “tens of millions of yuan” to break up with him.

In an online statement released on the weekend, He Zhenya, wife of actor Wu Xiubo – star of the 2013 box office hit Finding Mr Right – claimed that actress Chen Yulin made demands for a “break-up fee” over 18 months.

The statement came after Chen’s parents posted a letter online on Friday claiming that the daughter was taken into custody by police from Beijing’s Chaoyang district on November 5 because Wu, 50, had reported her for alleged blackmail.

In September, Chen declared on her social media account that she had been in a seven-year relationship with Wu and that after they started dating, Wu told her to stop work so she could dedicate herself to caring for him. She said that in 2016 she spent 333 days in a hotel, doing his laundry and cooking for him while he shot a TV series.

In their letter on Friday, the parents claimed that Wu, his agent, and a lawyer pressured Chen to retract the post, offering a break-up fee in return. The parties reached an agreement and Chen left the country, the parents claimed.

But only part of the money was paid and when Chen to return to China on November 5 to discuss the matter with Wu at his behest, she was taken away by police, they claimed.

In another public letter released over the weekend, the parents said they had pleaded for mercy from Wu several times but had no response.

“Mumu is certainly in the wrong, but isn’t a jail term too heavy a punishment?” the letter said, referring to Chen by her nickname.

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Wu’s lawyer responded on Saturday on the Twitter-like Weibo platform, dismissing the parents’ claims and saying the case was being handled by the legal system.

He Zhenya also said: “We have been doing our best to deal with it ... but the other side keeps pushing. We are not protecting honour or profit, but the rights of a family to live normally. We believe the law and legal departments can give a fair decision.”

Beijing Chaoyang police were not immediately available for comment.

Wu’s popularity has risen in the last decade with a series of hit TV dramas and movies, including his role as a spy in Before Dawn in 2010 and as a doctor in the 2012 medical drama Angel Heart.

He also stars in Love Saint 2, a movie scheduled for release during the Lunar New Year, the peak box-office period for the film industry.

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Wang Zhenyu, a criminal lawyer at Beijing Yipai Law Firm, said a conviction for blackmail could attract a jail sentence of more than 10 years but it was not a crime to ask for an agreed-upon fee.

“However, one should also look at the way an agreement is reached. If it’s reached under threat or coercion, then it’s blackmail,” he said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Actor caught up in ‘break-up fee’ blackmail row
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