If you're a friend of Yang Mi and in need of some quick cash, don’t bother going to the Chinese actress for help. She may have ranked ninth in last year’s Forbes China Celebrity 100 list and was once reported to be worth a whopping S$890mil, but the 33-year-old has declared — on a public platform, no less — that she would never lend her friends money.

Yang Mi made the rather controversial statement during her appearance on Chinese talk show Hi! Relax while chatting with Chinese host Wayne Zhang. Somehow, they got to talking about lending money to other people, which is when Yang Mi frankly stated that she would usually avoid doing it.

She did give a proper explanation for it, though. “It’s a real problem. If one of my friends asked if they could borrow 20,000 yuan (about S$3,900) from me and I lent it to them, they might think, ‘You’re such a big celebrity. You won’t come looking for me to get that 20,000 yuan back.’” In other words, she doesn’t want others to take advantage of her (but it also sounds like she needs to be a little more trusting of her friends).

“I don’t know if this is considered a form of moral kidnapping [Ed: a Chinese term that means forcing someone to do something in the name of being a good person] but I would rather not be in such a strange and embarrassing situation,” she continued. “Fortunately, none of my friends right now have asked me to lend them money. But if that ever happens, I will choose not to do it. It’s better not to involve money in your friendships.”

While Yang Mi’s revelation earned her some scathing remarks from netizens who accused her of being “heartless” and “a miser”, others appeared fully supportive of her attitude and thought she made a lot of sense.

“Indeed, some people borrow money as grandsons and return money as grandfathers,” wrote one, while another concurred: “In order to maintain a pure friendship, it’s better not to have anything to do with money.”

Media reports also brought up a previous interview of Yang Mi’s, in which she claimed that she’s actually a “poor person” 'cos all her earnings get transferred to her father, who would then give her an allowance of about 50,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan (S$9,800 to S$19,600). While that certainly is nowhere near her estimated net worth, “poor” is a very, um, poor choice of words.

Photos: Yang Mi’s work studio/Weibo, MGTV Idol Station/YouTube