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5/3/11

Chinese Celebrities and Secret Marriages



Celebrities

Today’s trending topics included the following tidbit:
“邓超孙俪已婚 Dèng Chāo Sūn Lì yǐhūn – Actor Deng Chao recently admitted in an interview that he was already married to Sun Li.”
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a story like this, in which famous Chinese actors and actresses reluctantly admit that yes, they are married or that yes, they have kids. I found that strange. Why would Chinese celebs want to hide the nupitals?
One possible reason is that when they annouce they’re marrying before they do it, things can go crazy. Anyone who’s been following our trending topics for a while probably remebers Taiwanese celeb Big S’s wedding was in the news for weeks, because — despite her attempts at secrecy — photos and information were leaked to the press, leading to a very public and drawn out falling-out between her family and a (former) family friend. It was an ugly affair, and if that’s how weddings go when you announce them beforehand, I can understand why most people want to keep their marriages a secret.
But that may not be a factor at all. When I searched the net for some Chinese answers to this question, I found something different. Why don’t celebs announce they’re married, or that they have kids? “Once you’ve gotten married and had a child, who would like you anymore?” responded one netizen. “They have their reasons,” wrote another. “Perhaps it’s because they worry that after getting married and having a kid they won’t be super famous anymore (they’re right about that).”
Most of the other opinions I found were variations on that theme. Being married and/or having a child changes your image, and not necessarily for the better. In the West, celebrity marriages tend to be so short that no one considers married celebrities off the market for too long, even if they have kids. But in China, fans may be more likely to abandon their crushes on the latest heartthrob or take down their posters of the hottest new actress when they find out he or she is married. There are plenty of single stars, in China, after all, so why waste your fandom on someone unattainable?
Note: this is just speculation based on my really informal research, and the same phenomenon probably exists to some extent in the West too. I don’t really follow celebrity gossip on either continent, generally speaking, but this seemed like an interesting enough trend to look into here.


Chinese Celebrities and Secret Marriages