With all the heat on Cathryn Li (李元玲) thanks to her meltdown on the “正面交鋒 FaceTalk” show, the past week has been dramatic for her. It came to head on 13th March, when the influencer posted her suicide attempt.
Thankfully, her fans and many friends in the industry have been supportive of her. That includes her former agent Jersey Chong.
Jersey Chong, international PR director and artiste manager for Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, made a post yesterday addressing Cathryn’s suicide attempt. She expressed her dismay at reading comments which condemned Cathryn and shared what she knew about the family.
Apparently, Cathryn’s older sister, Jo has been diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) and PTSD which can be hereditary. Jersey shared Jo’s post detailing her suicide attempt from over 10 years ago to help spread awareness on the matter. She also asked people to be careful with their words. “It (may seem) cool to hide behind (a) screen and be a troll (on your keyboard). But the harm you bring to people is permanent or even fatal,” Jersey stated.
Criticism on Cathryn’s reaction may not have been the only tipping point. Local film producer, Jack Lee opted to insert his two-cents, claiming Cathryn had been unprofessional during her acting jobs. She shut down his allegations, and Auguste Kwan (關德輝) corroborated her events yesterday (14th March) in a Facebook post.
Auguste was furious after seeing Jack’s post. “I have been in the industry for many years, and I have never seen such a shameless person!” he exclaimed. Auguste stated he had met another girl who worked behind the scenes of “Heroes of Hua Xia” (华夏英雄) in Beijing several years after the movie was filmed. Apparently the girl had told him that Jack had asked her to “go and spend the night at a hotel with an important person“. Luckily, she did not comply with Jack’s request.
“I was shaking with anger,” Auguste wrote. He asked the girl why she never told him because he would have fired him from the crew or even reported him to the police to avoid him harming others. Auguste then quoted China’s poet Bei Dao, “Debasement is the password of the base, nobility the epitaph of the noble” from the poem “The Answer”. “Alas, this society is where a scum can pass through, and gentlemen have no way to go!” he lamented.
While many are doubtful of Cathryn’s suicide attempt, like makeup artist Kenny Yee, her willingness to turn to suicide is concerning. If what her former agent Jersey Chong says is true, we hope she gets the help she needs as soon as possible.
