By Phyllis Lee/
Last year, local blogger Ang Chiew Ting drew flak for turning to crowdfunding to support her lawsuit with social media advertising network ChurpChurp. In just one year, netizens have turned around to root for her to go on with her life again.
In an episode of Court Porn on The Michelle Chong Channel, Ang opened up about how the year-long saga has taken a toll on her financially and mentally. Since its upload on Tuesday (15 August), the video has garnered over 81,500 views and 1,270 likes.
Ang, more commonly known as Bong Qiu Qiu, was sued by ChurpChurp for allegedly breaching her contract by undertaking commercial deals with brands without the latter’s approval. She then counter-sued, refuting their claims and stating that she was no longer under a contract with the network.
On 19 July, it was announced that both parties agreed to settle the court case amicably by dropping all legal proceedings made against each other.
While the initial estimated cost for her lawsuit was $250,000, Ang managed to avoid going to trial and ended up paying a total of $150,000 for her legal fees. Out of that hefty sum, $20,715 was raised by 545 people who supported her through crowdfunding platform GIVE.asia.
Speaking to local artiste Pornsak, who hosts the YouTube series, she explained: “I had already exhausted whatever I had. That was the only time I went to seek help from the people around me. (But) it was still not enough to pay the legal fees, so I had to do crowdfunding.”
Barely four minutes into the 16-minute long video, it was clear that Ang was already getting emotional talking about the struggles she faced throughout the lawsuit.
Other than her financial woes, Ang was also pregnant with her daughter Amelia at that time – which naturally brought her even more stress. In the video, she revealed that she was so emotionally unstable and depressed that she had to seek help from a psychotherapist.
She tearfully recounted incidents of herself breaking into tears when she was with her first-born daughter Meredith, and having to resort to locking herself in the toilet to cry it out alone.
“I wasn’t eating well, I wasn’t sleeping well. After that, I just had to knock myself out of it and tell myself to focus on what’s really important… the baby. I guess I just pulled through like that,” she said.
In response to the video, there have been some naysayers making snide remarks and beating her up for some of her actions over the past year.
However, it was clear that Ang’s raw side has touched the hearts of most netizens, who have been reacting in a more sympathetic manner this time round.
It seems that Ang has finally wrapped up this case and put it behind her – and hopefully, so will everyone else.