Zhang Ziyi Wins Libel Lawsuit Against Prostitution Claims
Zhang Ziyi (章子怡) has successfully won a libel lawsuit against two Hong Kong magazines for publishing baseless allegations that she had slept with China’s top officials for money.
On May 29, 2012, Hong Kong’s tabloid newspaper Apple Daily published an article about Ziyi’s supposed involvement with China’s former senior official Bo Xilai (薄熙來), who was making headlines over a major corruption scandal. Apple Daily alleged that Ziyi had prostituted herself to Bo and was banned from leaving China pending an investigation.
On May 31, 2012, Next Magazine followed up on the story with a piece detailing Ziyi’s alleged sexual involvement with top officials and wealthy businessmen, claiming that the movie star has made over 700 million RMB over a ten year period from these indecent transactions. Both publications sourced the false information from U.S.-based Chinese news site, Boxun.
Ziyi filed for libel charges against the three media companies within weeks. Boxun has since retracted its articles and issued a public apology. The case against Apple Daily and Next Magazine went to court in Hong Kong on November 29, 2013. The High Court threw out the companies’ counter-claims, citing a lack of evidence. The two were given twenty-one days to re-submit their defense or else Ziyi would win by default. Ziyi also sued for $600,000 HKD in legal costs, though the magazines have decided to appeal their case.
The court resumed on January 20, 2014. Since Apple Daily and Next Magazine were unable to produce acceptable proof to back their stories, the judge ultimately ruled in Ziyi’s favor. The companies then raised objection over the amount of legal costs they are responsible for, saying that Ziyi did not have to hire an expensive senior counsel to fight a simple case. The judge ruled that Ziyi is justified in hiring a high-caliber lawyer due to the nature of the defamation and the impact it could have on her global reputation. Ziyi was awarded $390,000 HKD in legal costs in the end.
Sources: Oriental Daily; Sohu.com
This article is written by Katrine for JayneStars.com.
She’s beautiful
Yes, she is. She was my No. 1 idol after crouching tiger in 2000.
At that time, i find her so pretty, so admirable.
She is overrated.
Who isn’t to some extent?
Serve Apple daily and Next magazine right.
They should be fined 1 million. 390,000 is peanuts in hongkong dollars.
She is overrated but glad she won the lawsuit as those gossip magazine really are awful!
knew a very rich taiwanese man once, he told me them ladies actors actually sell sex for money, i believe him, he had no reason to lie to me
Maybe struggling actresses may do that but why would Zhang ziyi need to do that? She has plenty of money.
how would you know if he’s not lying to you? did you know him well? anyway a lot of people lie about these things to make them look good. i’m sure a lot of male actors sleep with rich women/men to get money.
That rich taiwanese boy of yours has no reason to lie to you because things like that is no surprise to the entertainment industry. I don’t know if Zhang did that or not but I do give her the credit for taking the bad guys down.
Congrats Ziyi!
Agreed!