Back in 2018, the gossip mill was churning with speculations that retired Taiwanese screen goddess Lin Ching Hsia had divorced Hongkong billionaire Michael Ying after 24 years of marriage, and that she had received a whopping HK$2bil (S$344mil) in alimony.

Ching Hsia denied the reports by saying that her whole family is “very happy”, but it looks like some folks are still refusing to take her word for it.

In a recent episode of talk show News Wawawa, Taiwanese media veteran Nian Changyu pointed out three ‘signs’ that make her doubt Ching Hsia’s claim that all is well between the 66-year-old star and her husband.

For starters, Changyu recalled contacting one of Ching Hsia’s close friends to confirm the news of the split. The other party paused for a moment before slowly replying, “I have no comment”, which made Changyu suspect that the rumours may indeed be true.

Changyu also doubts Ching Hsia’s earlier statement about her marriage being “in a very good state”. “If she is really so happy, then how come the number of times she and her husband have showed up together over the last 10 years can be counted with 10 fingers?”

Moving on, Changyu brought up an excerpt from one of Ching Hsia’s three books that mentions her writing late into the night and tossing crumpled pieces of paper into the trash ‘cos she wasn’t satisfied with her work.

Before she knew it, the sun had already come up, and her daughter had slipped her a note from under the door that read, “Mama, you didn’t sleep all night, right?”

Instead of just interpreting this as a simple and sweet parent-child interaction, Changyu wondered where Michael was and why he didn’t seem to be sleeping in the same room as Ching Hsia, suspecting that they must be living apart.

And last but not least, Changyu mentioned that before the pandemic, Ching Hsia would often be spotted out and about in public with her good friends, but never with Michael. “It’s always like that. We never know where her husband is.”

Another guest on the show added her own theory, saying that Michael could have been thinking of getting a divorce but was perhaps advised against it by his friends, who said that no matter what, he would bear the brunt of the criticism and be labelled a “traitor” for daring to dump Ching Hsia.

Therefore, the only reason they are still together is for the sake of maintaining their public image.

Photos: 新聞挖挖哇！/YouTube, Lin Ching Hsia/Weibo, PBE Media