Actress Barbie Hsu and ex still at each other's throats
The spat between Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu and her ex-husband, Chinese businessman Wang Xiaofei, shows no signs of abating more than two years after their divorce.
Hsu, 47, took to social media on March 20 to rebut the latest allegations made by Wang, 42. The businessman was in court on March 19 to face charges under Taiwan’s Personal Data Protection Act for allegedly disclosing Hsu’s personal data online.
The former couple announced their split in November 2021 after 11 years of marriage. They have a nine-year-old daughter and a seven-year-old son.
Hsu married her old flame, South Korean musician DJ Koo, 54, also known as Koo Jun-yup, three months later.
In December 2022, amid a war of words between Wang and Hsu on social media, Wang posted on Weibo their divorce agreement, without deleting her personal data like address and bank account numbers, to rebut her claims that she had paid for two disputed properties herself and that she had lent him money.
Hsu filed a complaint against him for allegedly violating Taiwan’s Personal Data Protection Act, and he was charged by prosecutors in January 2024.
Wang denied the charges when he appeared in court on March 19, claiming that it was Hsu who first published her personal data and information about their financial dealings on her social media account. He accused her of undermining his integrity by falsely accusing him of failing to provide support for the family, and that the properties were paid for by her.
He also said Hsu used his credit card four months before their divorce to buy NT$12 million (S$503,000) worth of luxury goods and sent them to South Korea four months before the divorce.
Hsu rebutted the allegations on social media on March 20 and instead accused him of having an affair during their marriage.
“You were the one who cheated on me during the marriage, not me,” she wrote in Chinese. “I did use your card a few times after the divorce to vent my anger, but they were approved by you with your signature. The key point was I did not use your card to buy anything for my husband.”
Hsu said she was actually using her hard-earned money even though she was using his credit card, as she has lent money to him and spent large sums on him during their marriage.
Hsu appeared to back it up with a statement through her agency, which posted on Weibo on March 20. It said that Wang had borrowed 16 million yuan (S$3 million) and HK$10 million (S$1.7 million) from Hsu and had repaid her only NT$5 million, with hundreds of millions of NT outstanding.
Hsu also accused Wang’s mother Zhang Lan of spreading false rumours about her friend, Taiwanese TV host Blackie Chen, when the older woman claimed in November 2021 that Chen had assaulted Wang years ago due to differences in their political beliefs.
Hsu wrote: “The truth was you were drunk that day and pushed my sister (Taiwanese TV host Dee Hsu) to the ground, and you pushed me to the ground too even though I was pregnant and was trying to stop you.
“You picked up a hardcover Harry Potter book and tried to use it to hit me, and Chen stepped in to stop you from hurting me and did not assault you.”
Hsu also said she has received numerous photos of Wang with other women during their marriage, disclosing that Zhang advised her not to get a divorce. Rumours had been rife before their divorce that Wang was seeing Chinese actress Zhang Yingying, 28.
“I told her that you had already cheated on me, but she assured me that there was no such thing,” Hsu wrote. “The next day, photos of (Zhang Lan) and Zhang Yingying (together) appeared in major media.
“Zhang Lan denied knowing Zhang Yingying despite the contrary, and you yourself also openly declared after the incident that you have been dating her and that she was your benefactor.”
Hsu said she suffered “two deaths and one serious injury” during their marriage, referring to her two miscarriages. Netizens speculated the “serious injury” likely referred to her physical condition after the second miscarriage.
Wang swiftly reacted to her online allegations over an hour later on the same day.
“I did not push you or your sister to the ground,” he wrote on Weibo. “Your sister has been egging you to divorce me and I have only pushed her in extreme anger, but I have never laid a hand on you and your sister.”
He said Hsu was hallucinating the whole episode and that it was she who had used a knife, golf club and red wine bottle to hit him, adding there was evidence and witnesses.
Wang also disputed Hsu’s claim of not buying anything for Koo before their divorce, posting invoices and saying that she has been purchasing gifts for her current husband as early as August 2021.
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