Actor Kent Tong goes on Mainland interview show, Michael Miu makes him cry

*Pictures courtesy of Sina Beijing, YangChing Evening News, and Sina Weibo*



In the popular Mainland series《宮》[loosely translated as “Palace”], which recently finished airing on Hunan TV, Hong Kong actor Kent Tong successfully portrayed the role of Qing Dynasty Emperor Kangxi. Last week, Kent Tong appeared on Mainland interview show《魯豫有約》[《Appointment with Lu Yu》] with his wife and twin daughters as well as his older brother, fellow actor Tong Chun Chung. During the interview, Kent shared aspects of his current happy life with his family as well as his thoughts regarding the various relationships in his life, including brotherhood, love, family, and friendship.



In the past 2 decades, every time Kent appears on any type of show, he is inevitably asked about his relationship with his former girlfriend, late actress Barbara Yung. With Barbara’s death from suicide 26 years ago, Kent was subsequently labeled as a ‘heartless man’ by the general public and the Media, as it was widely believed at the time that Barbara committed suicide because of him. All these years, Kent endured much contempt and criticism because of Barbara’s death and even had to move to Mainland China to start his career (and life) over again – despite all that he has endured, in the 20+ years that followed, Kent rarely spoke about the tragedy and never once provided any type of explanation in his own defense.



Last week, during Kent’s appearance on 《Appointment with Lu Yu》, fellow actor and good friend Michael Miu decided to speak out in defense of his ‘Tiger’ brother. Through a pre-recorded video segment, Michael sought to put the matter to rest by providing the long-awaited ‘explanation’ that Kent had kept in his heart for many years: In actuality, Kent and Barbara had broken up already long before Barbara decided to commit suicide – it’s just that the Media did not know about the breakup so it was rarely reported on. After Barbara died, Kent was immediately subjected to all sorts of criticisms and angry comments coming from every direction, yet he decided to remain silent. Instead of defending himself and refuting the Media’s harsh speculations, Kent silently threw himself into helping to arrange Barbara’s funeral – seeing all this, the close friends and family who knew the truth about the situation were both moved and saddened. As Kent’s close friend and ‘brother’ for over 20 years, Michael Miu – who had the best understanding of the entire situation as well as the Kent/Barbara relationship due to his close friendship with both artists – felt that after so many years, it was finally time to reveal the truth in the hopes that his ‘brother’ Kent could be vindicated. Michael also stated that he hopes now people will stop misunderstanding Kent.



Upon hearing Michael’s words, Kent was visibly moved by his Tiger brother’s efforts to help clear his name – for over 20 years, Kent never provided a single explanation and never publicly shed a tear despite all the ‘persecution’ he endured from the Media – yet, sitting there and listening to Michael’s explanation, he could not hold back his tears any longer and cried.



Back in the 80s, after the situation occurred, Kent did not want to be a burden on his friends or family, so he left Hong Kong and hid himself from the public, keeping a low profile and also leaving the entertainment industry for a period of time. Years later, he met his first wife, with whom he had a daughter and twin sons; after that marriage ended in divorce, Kent dated a woman from Guangzhou, with whom he had another son. In 2008, he married his current wife Wen Jing, a woman from Qingdao who is 26 years younger than him, and shortly thereafter, he became a father once again to twin daughters. Currently, Kent is a father of 6 children and expressed that his family life is very happy and fulfilling.



With regard to his children, Kent expressed that he will make sure all of them get a good education, however he also revealed that he is less strict with the girls than he is with the boys: “The girls are raised rich and the boys are raised poor.” A few months ago, in June, Kent and his twin sons participated in a photo shoot for a magazine – upon seeing the pictures of the shoot, netizens commented that Kent’s sons are very handsome and encouraged them to follow in their Dad’s footsteps and join the entertainment industry.



Source: Sina News, Mingpao

Translation: llwy12 @ AsianFanatics