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Saturday, August 20, 2011

Kent Tong's interview on 《魯豫有約》("Appointment with Lu Yu")

It's been a long time since I've heard anything about Kent Tong (well, he does appear with his Tiger brothers occasionally, but for the most part, he has focused his career in Mainland China, so he is not in HK as often). Of course, as a 5 Tigers fan, I perk up my ears whenever I hear anything about them, so that's why when I found out that Kent was invited to appear on 《魯豫有約》[loosely translated 《Appointment with Lu Yu 》, I really wanted to watch the interview.

The below is an article that I found summarizing his appearance on the interview show -- since it only covers some parts of the interview (mostly the segment about Barbara), I plan on doing a follow up post (or two) about the actual interview itself (after I watch it, that is) -- sort of like what I did for the LOTCH reunion show....so stay tuned for that.

Meanwhile, here's the article (the English version translated by me as well as the original Chinese version:


*Article originally published 8/17/2011 (the interview itself occurred back on 8/8/2011)*

Source:  Sina News

Translated by:  llwy12

Picture courtesy Sina Weibo

Picture courtesy Sina Beijing & YangChing Evening News



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

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.

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Chinese Version:

湯鎮業做客談話節目 被曝翁美玲死前兩人已分手

近日,在《宮》中成功塑造康熙皇帝的湯鎮業(微博)攜妻女、與哥哥湯鎮宗一起做客《魯豫有約》,展示如今的幸福生活,並與觀眾分享他的兄弟情、愛情、親情和友情。

  湯鎮業每一次出場,都會被提到翁美玲的名字以及他們之間的感情糾葛。二十多年前隨著“俏黃蓉”翁美玲的自殺,湯鎮業身上被貼上了“負心漢”的標籤,很多人覺得翁美玲是因他而自殺。湯鎮業背負罵名二十多年,從未辯解過一句。但是在這次訪談中,當年與湯鎮業同為“無線五虎將”之一、人稱“三哥”的苗僑偉,通過視頻卻給出了一個截然不同的答案:湯翁戀情其實在翁美玲自殺之前一段時間已經結束,只是媒體不知道沒有報導;事情發生後,湯鎮業即使受到各方的惡評,一直不作解釋,默默為翁美玲辦理後事,讓知情人都非常感動。所以三哥覺得在可以公布真相的今天、作為最了解整件事情始末的自己,想為兄弟討回一個公道,希望大家不要再誤會湯鎮業。

  聽到三哥這席話後,這個背負了多少罵名都未曾開口解釋一句、流過一滴淚的男人,竟忍不住流下了眼淚。當年,湯鎮業不願拖累別人,離開香港將自己隱藏起來。之後,湯鎮業曾有一段婚史,與前妻育有一女及一對雙胞胎兒子,還有一名與廣州的紅顏知己所生的兒子。2008年,湯鎮業迎娶小自己26歲的青島姑娘文靜,再添一對雙胞胎女兒。如今的湯鎮業已是6個孩子的父親,一家人生活其樂融融。

  湯鎮業表示,6個兒女的教育他都會把關,但是對待兒子女兒的教育方法卻不同:女兒要富養,兒子要窮養。今年6月,湯鎮業還與雙胞胎兒子───大寶小寶為某雜誌拍攝一組時尚照片,網友大呼:帥氣的大寶小寶進軍娛樂圈吧!(王普)

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