HONG KONG — The husband of late Hong Kong pop diva Coco Lee has defended himself against accusations from her fans that he was responsible for her depression and death and said that he had nothing to do with her decision to end her life.

“I have 100 per cent nothing to do with her death,” Mr Bruce Rockowitz told the Post on Tuesday (Aug 1).

He was speaking after fans of the star confronted him at the Cape Collinson Crematorium in Chai Wan earlier in the day and blamed him for the suicide attempt that led to Lee’s death.

The finale of a two-day funeral descended into chaos in the late morning when several fans from mainland China hurled abuse at him, calling him a “murderer” and someone with “no conscience”, and demanding that he “give me back my Coco”.

Mr Rockowitz told the Post: “I don’t know what was said to me during the cremation because I don’t know Chinese very well. That was not very nice.”

The businessman, 64, who arrived in Hong Kong in the late 1970s, said his relationship with Lee, who was 48, lasted for 20 years before she took her own life earlier this month.

They were married in a glamorous ceremony in 2011, attended by celebrities from the city and abroad.

“We have a 20-year relationship. No relationship is 100 per cent perfect,” he said.

Rockowitz said in an earlier interview with the Post that he came to Hong Kong in 1979 aged 20 after the Hong Kong Country Club hired him as a tennis pro.

He was in the middle of a course at a college in Boston, United States, at the time.

Mr Rockowitz later got to know Mr Allan Zeman, the father of the Lan Kwai Fong entertainment area in Central, and became his business partner in a supply chain management venture.

Mr Rockowitz is also the co-founder of the Pure Group fitness chain and a director of technology consultancy firm Step Digital Group.

The Lee family earlier said the singer died on July 5 after she tried to take her own life on July 2.

A source familiar with the circumstances said Lee moved out of her home and checked into a serviced flat at the Four Seasons Hotel in Central in October last year.

The source said she felt unwell on June 30 and stayed in hospital for a day, before moving in with her sister on The Peak, where she later made the suicide attempt.

The insider explained Lee had leg surgery in February this year and needed to take medication. But he said she did not appear to have suicidal tendencies at the time.

Mr Rockowitz had minimal contact with Lee’s sisters, Nancy and Carol, at the funeral service. He and his two daughters from a previous marriage were in the second row near the altar at the funeral home.

A distance was maintained between the trio and the Lee sisters.

The service on Tuesday morning was closed to the public, with only Lee’s family, friends and 200 fans present.

Hundreds of people said farewell to the star after the Hong Kong Funeral Home opened its doors to the public after a private service.

Mr Rockowitz issued a statement last Thursday to deny allegations made in the media that sought “to boost traffic”.

He said the claims had damaged his reputation, as well as his family’s, and had affected their lives.

Mr Rockowitz also emphasised he and his late wife’s financial affairs were separate throughout their marriage and said he had not, and would not, be involved in dealing with her estate.

Lee was the first Chinese singer to be signed by Sony Music globally, as well as the first and only Chinese artist to perform at the Oscars, singing “A Love Before Time” from Ang Lee’s 2000 award-winning film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST