After suddenly vanishing from the public eye last summer, beloved superstar Fan Bingbing has recently opened up about her tax evasion scandal from last October in an interview with the New York Times. It seems the star is ready to make a comeback, or at least attempt to (depending on the receptiveness of fans).
Fan Bingbing is considered one of China’s biggest movie stars, with an estimated net worth of $100 million and nears 63 million fans on Weibo.
According to the South China Morning Post, during her disappearance she was held under a form of detention known as ‘residential surveillance,’ at a holiday resort in Jiangsu province. There, she could not contact family members or lawyers and was denied issuing public statements or the use of her cell phone. “She wasn’t given a pen or paper to write with, nor allowed any privacy, even when taking showers,” reported SCMP.
As a result, last October she was fined RMB884 million (USD129 million) in overdue taxes and fines by China’s tax authorities as reported by Xinhua. She was luckily spared of criminal charges, however her manager was arrested.
In the NYT article published last weekend, Fan spoke candidly on the scandal:
“It may be a trough I encountered in my life or in my work, but this trough is actually a good thing,” she said. “It has made me calm down and think seriously about what I want to do in my future life.”
Many of her projects hang in limbo, such as 355, the female-fronted thriller produced by Jessica Chastain which also co-stars Penélope Cruz, Lupita Nyong’o, Marion Cotillard and Diane Kruger. Similarly her sponsorships dried up as Montblanc, Chopard and Swisse amongst countless others had dropped her.
Image via @bingbing_fan/Instagram
Fan continued, “It is impossible to have the best of everything,” describing her present comeback situation as at a “crossroads”. It will ultimately be up to the government and the fans how she will be received.
“There are regrets, pain and fragility,” she said. “But I still feel that I need to keep on living” Fan concluded.
READ MORE: Fan Bingbing Proclaims 'One China' in 1st Weibo Post Since Tax Evasion Apology
[Cover image via @bingbing_fan/Instagram]
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