Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, star of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Picture: AFP Source: Herald Sun
CHINA'S most famous actress, the star of Memoirs of a Geisha, is suing Hong Kong's biggest newspaper over an article that claimed that she was paid millions of dollars to sleep with top Chinese leaders, including the disgraced Communist Party official Bo Xilai.
Zhang Ziyi, 33, filed the lawsuit at the High Court in Hong Kong yesterday, accusing the Apple Daily of "seriously defamatory" claims.
The document, submitted to courts in Hong Kong and the US, said that the tabloid had represented Zhang, the star of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Rush Hour 2, and who has sat on the judging panel of the Cannes Film Festival, as "a prostitute".
In allegations that she condemned as "absolute libel", the newspaper claimed that Zhang had amassed a $110 million fortune over a decade through payments for numerous sexual liaisons with top Chinese officials.
Apple Daily faces millions of dollars in damages for saying that Zhang's client list included Mr Bo, the disgraced ex-party secretary of Chongqing.
Its story went considerably further than most Hong Kong gossip magazines would dare to tread, exploiting the public appetite for the extraordinary intrigue surrounding Mr Bo.
With little in the way of sourcing, the article, which appeared on May 29, sought to draw Zhang into the political scandal that has erupted around Mr Bo since his former right-hand man tried to defect at a US consulate in February and his wife was named in April as the chief suspect in the murder of Neil Heywood, a British businessman.
Apple Daily alleged that encounters between Mr Bo and the actress were arranged by a tycoon who made his billions in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian, where Mr Bo was once mayor.
The article claimed that Zhang, who is also suing a US-based internet site where the speculation is thought to have originated, had slept with Mr Bo several times between 2007 and 2011 - a period that began long after Zhang had established her career.
"The plaintiff has been subjected to public odium, hatred, contempt or ridicule," said the court document, naming the editors of Apple Daily and Next Magazine as defendants. "The plaintiff's public image has also been seriously and continuously undermined, which has caused and will continue to cause loss and damage to her profession and career."
The original Apple Daily piece alleged that Zhang had also been questioned as part of an investigation that is understood to have cast a wide net around Mr Bo's professional and personal contacts.
Her non-appearance at Cannes this year was cited as "proof" that she had been banned from travelling outside mainland China.
Her appearance in Hong Kong on the day after the article was published appeared to refute that.
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