Zhou Xun, Archie Kao Filing for Divorce
Calling it quits after four years of marriage, Mainland Chinese actress Zhou Xun (周迅) and American actor Archie Kao (高聖遠) are said to be filing for divorce.
Zhou Xun and Archie come from vastly different backgrounds and their relationship was not highly regarded by the public from the beginning. Two years into their marriage, divorce rumors were already in the air. Numerous problems arose between the two. As Archie often works in Taiwan and the United States and Zhou Xun works in China, the pair did not spend enough time together. Since Archie grew up in the United States and speaks primarily English, the pair suffered cultural differences and had communication problems.
While Archie’s most prominent work is his supporting role in the American crime show, CSI, Zhou Xun is one of Mainland’s top actresses. While the financial differences were not a problem prior to getting married, filing for divorce presents problems in the separation of assets– especially since Zhou Xun’s net worth is much higher than Archie’s. For this reason, the couple did not have a clean break two years ago, when their marriage initially had problems.
Zhou Xun Forms Close Friendship with Faye Wong’s Daughter
Two years ago, Zhou Xun and Archie allegedly agreed to live separately. Realizing that they could still be happy without each other, the couple agreed that they should officially separate so they can lead new lives. They are just waiting for the right time to sign divorce papers in Hangzhou, where they had initially received their marriage license.
Amid her marital struggles, Zhou Xun found comfort with good friends. She befriended Faye Wong’s (王菲) 21-year-old daughter, Leah Dou (竇靖童), despite the large age gap. In Zhou Xun’s 43rd birthday party last October, Leah was present while Archie was missing. Zhou Xun and Leah are often seen out shopping and having dinner as well, and judging by their close friendship, there is absolutely no generation gap. Last year, Leah even invited Zhou Xun to her home in order to celebrate Faye’s birthday.
Archie has reportedly been leading a busy night life and even gotten close to a male friend recently, sparking reports that he is now in a gay relationship.
Archie and Zhou Xun’s Responses
Although neither parties have directly spoken out about the divorce, Archie’s manager recently explained that Archie was in the United States for the second half of 2018. He claimed the divorce rumors and reports that he met a male lover are false. Archie’s manager revealed that the actor flew back to Taiwan and is currently spending all his time trying to memorize his new script in Chinese.
Zhou Xun’s studio stated that they are unsure of the details and will not respond to any of the claims.
This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.
Not surprised at all. The whole “growing up with different backgrounds” thing aside, the fact that Archie and Zhou Xun can barely communicate with each other due to language differences was already a major red flag that the relationship was not going to work out. Communication is a basic tenet in any relationship, let alone marriage, so not being able to even fulfill that basic requirement, plus the cultural differences, of course the relationship is going to be disastrous. I was actually surprised that they went ahead and got married in the first place back 4 years ago when it was already very obvious it wasn’t going to work….not sure what they were thinking….maybe love truly was blind in this case….
@llwy12 right? I’m always baffled when two different linguistic people come together. how the heck do they talk to each other?
but there are examples of this working out in history and to some people. and there is one universal tongue – body language – after all. liu ye married a French lady who probably speaks minimal Chinese. they’re still going strong today.
@coralie body language hahaaha Lol…. I have heard that before. Liu Ye – oh my gosh, that french woman loves that dude from what you can tell from those reality shows or other interview show haha…It was funny how Liu Ye is actually quite an unattractive male IMO anyway hahha lol…but to her he’s the bomb. I think that relationship kind of works as that woman does speaks minimal but still very much understandable I think to others. I happened to stumble upon clips of the reality show w/a group of boys w/the hubby and I am sure everyone is equally baffled on how he got that woman. lol cuz I think most of the people probably thinks the wife is attractive haha ….I dont remember which show and someone asked him if the wife speaks chinese and he says OF COURSE OR HOW ELSE CAN WE COMMUNICATE?? hhaha obviously the guy probably does not speak much English. lol… I am not sure how this Archie’s chinese is as I have never heard of the guy. Didn’t watch that American show either but when I saw their news on JS back in the days I did wonder HTH did they even come together as a couple? haha lol….
@llwy12 if communication is a problem, how did they get together in the first place? it’s strange isn’t it? both are Chinese but yet brought up in different countries.
@janet72 Apparently, from what has been reported in the news, Archie was born in the U.S. and grew up here — supposedly he does understand Mandarin because his family spoke it at home however he himself is more comfortable speaking in English (so he is typical ABC then). Zhou Xun I don’t think speaks any English at all…I’m assuming they communicated mostly in Mandarin (even though from the looks of it, Archie’s spoken Mandarin probably wasn’t that good). I’m not a fan of either artist so I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the details but if I remember correctly, didn’t the two of them get married like within months after they started dating? There’s another red flag right there – coming from 2 completely different cultures, you would think that they would’ve wanted to spend more time getting to know each other and see if they’re compatible first before getting married. Also, the disparity in their careers and the long distance relationship….you know, the more I think about this, the more I wonder what their motivation was for getting married in the first place….from the getgo, there were already way too many indications that the relationship was never going to work – if strangers like us could see so many red flags from the little bit of information that came out in the news, it’s not possible that neither of them were able to see the same things…
@coralie Yea, forgot about Liu Ye….but I think he and his wife are definitely the exception. And who knows, maybe his wife’s level of Mandarin is actually more advanced than we think. Overall though, I feel their situation is a bit different because they have kids and so for their sake, there’s more motivation to make the relationship work (for example – one or the other might actually put in more of an effort to learn each other’s language so they can better communicate with each other as well as with the kids). Body language can only go so far and I highly doubt it is effective enough to sustain a relationship long-term.
@janet72 My guess it was the initial novelty of ‘opposite attracts’ that lead to their hookup. But over the long run, it was the same thing that lead to a break-up. She’s more successful career and earning-wise, while he had only small roles in Hollywood and didn’t find much success in China either. An unequal relationship is hard to sustain.
Archie is good looking.
@mangotango his acting is sooo bad, and fake lol. I don’t find him good looking at all, but to each our own I guess 🙂 one thing for sure though, he is now getting more acting jobs in China/Taiwan. Saw him ruby’s latest series, my dear boy.
I like Zhou Xun, however, I think she has a very strong personality that won’t simply do what the man said. Nothing wrong with that, however, it will make relationship with her a lot harder than it should, especially when they also have a language barrier.
And I’m not saying she’s lesbian, but her deep voice, how well she acts those high sexual tension scenes with another girl, she could come out and I would be fine :p basically she’s someone gives out such a strong, independent aura that I feel not many guys can live up to her to be her partner in life lol
it’s the same as vaness and arisa. they married even though they knew there is a problem.