Entertainment

'I think she's very brave': Barbie Hsu's remarriage divides social media


Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu’s marriage this week to Korean singer and DJ and ex-boyfriend Koo Jun-yup came out of the blue, and internet users in China, where she has legions of fans, responded with a mix of enthusiasm and cynicism to the news.

On March 8, Hsu, who is known as Big S, announced she had remarried — three months after her divorce to Chinese businessman Wang Xiaofei — sending Chinese social media users into a frenzy.

Some users shared an excerpt from the 2019 Korean reality-TV programme Taste of Love which showed Koo relied on his mother not only to make his meals but also to pick bones out of fish for him. They contrasted it with Hsu’s remark on the Chinese reality-TV show Happiness Trio that “you have to let men help you peel [off the shells] when eating shrimp”.

One user on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform, joked: “After their marriage, her mother-in-law will have an additional job of peeling shrimp for her.”

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Others expressed scepticism about the marriage because of the disparity in earning power and popularity between Hsu and Koo, with some expressing concern that she will be the principal breadwinner for him and his family.

Many of Hsu’s fans have been urging her to sign a prenuptial agreement, while others jokingly reminded her to download “anti-fraud software” as an extra precaution.

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At the same time, there are also those who think she is courageous in giving marriage another go.

“I think she’s very brave to do what she wants and not be affected by what’s going on around her; love sometimes requires this kind of courage,” one Weibo user wrote.

Hsu, 46, and Koo, 53, married in South Korea in January, just before the Lunar New Year. The newlywed couple are in Taiwan preparing to register their marriage there. They will then spend two months on honeymoon before returning to South Korea.

The pair will reunite after Koo has finished serving 10 days in coronavirus quarantine, according to Taiwanese media reports. They have been communicating by video call, and this is the first time Hsu and Koo will be together in person since the end of their relationship more than 20 years ago.

Talking about whether Koo will be the same in the flesh as he has appeared in video chats, Hsu told Taiwanese media she was not worried.

“[Koo] still looks the same; if it is going to be disillusionment, let it be,” Hsu said. “I couldn’t care less; love comes first.”

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Hsu initially did not want to make a public statement about her marriage to Koo because she had left show business, Taiwanese media reported. However, she chose to respect her new husband’s decision to make it public and reposted his Instagram announcement of their marriage.

READ ALSO: ‘I don’t know this Korean man’: Barbie Hsu’s mother furious at her sudden remarriage

This article was first published in South China Morning Post.





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