Gillian Chung gets fat-shamed by netizens while fans defend her

Hong Kong — Hong Kong singer-actress Gillian Chung appeared on the latest trailer for Chinese variety show Twinkle Love on Wednesday (April 28) where she talked about her first love but that was not what got netizens talking.

The 40-year-old, who divorced Taiwanese doctor Michael Lai in March 2020 after less than two years of marriage, shared that she dated a Japanese boy but it ended after he returned to Japan. Chung said her advice to her 20-year-old self would be “to be a good person”.

Netizens left comments about Chung’s looks, saying that she has put on weight, according to 8days.sg. Some netizens were worried about the star’s health, wondering if her weight gain had anything to do with medication. However, there were also netizens who showed their support to Chung with body-positive comments like “Have the courage to be yourself and don’t care about others’ opinions”, and “Why must she be thin her entire life? Can’t we allow female celebrities to eat well?”.

Charlene Choi, Chung’s Twins bandmate was asked about her weight gain at the premiere of her new film 77 Heartwarmings. The 38-year-old then said that health is the most important thing. Choi shared that Chung struggles with hormonal imbalance, so she shouldn’t pay attention to anyone pressuring her to lose weight and just focus on being healthy and happy.

Born on January 21, 1981, Gillian Chung Ka-lai, known by her stage name Chung Yan-tung, is a Hong Kong film actress and singer. She is a member of the Cantopop duo Twins, along with Charlene Choi.

Chung was born in Hong Kong as Chung Tik-shan. Her father died when she was one year old. When she was two years old, her family believed the character Tik from her birth name to be too strong and renamed her to Chung Ka-lai.

She initially grew up in a single-parent family until her mother remarried to a man also surnamed Chung, when Chung was in high school. She was given the English name “Gillian” while in high school. Chung graduated from Kowloon True Light Middle School and briefly attended the William Angliss Institute of TAFE in Melbourne, Australia./TISG