Taiwanese veteran actor Ma Jingtao appears to have found love once again.
On July 6, a Weibo user going by Bianmu Poni Xiao Pony posted a photo of herself with the 61-year-old.
In it, she is seen holding a large bouquet of red roses while Jingtao has his arm around her. It appears to have been taken at a birthday party.
The caption reads: “From an idol to a lover! You’re the best actor! Forever Lv Dongbin,” referring to Jingtao’s role in the 1998 Mediacorp drama Legend of the Eight Immortals.
However, the second part of the caption has provoked the ire of netizens for dissing Jingtao’s ex-wives. He was married to Tang Yun from 1990 to 1993 and actress Wu Jiani from 2007 to 2017.
“It’s okay if you’ve been divorced twice! Because they don’t know how to treasure you but I do!” the caption read.
While some congratulated the woman on the relationship, others chided her for her comments about his ex-wives, saying she had “low EQ”.
The post has since been deleted, but she doubled down after the hate she received for it.
She posted another photo of herself with Jingtao on July 9.
“I received a lot of messages from my friends, and they all feel sorry for me being ‘cyberbullied’,” she wrote. “I told them it doesn’t matter, because I will not read unrealistic comments about me from strangers who don’t know or understand me.”
“Be yourself with a clear conscience! It’s enough to love a man worthy of love with a sincere heart who asks for nothing in return, and at the same time, get the support, approval and blessing of the friends around us.”
She also mentioned a few of his other notable roles, such as Zhang Wuji and Dorgon, that are “deeply remembered by our generation” and she had loved since she was a child.
The woman also struck out against netizens claiming Jingtao was a domestic abuser.
“It’s okay to scold me, but don’t spread fake news about Ma Jingtao’s ‘domestic violence’,” she wrote in a subsequent post yesterday (July 11). “How could domestic violence be possible from such a gentle and considerate man?”
She added that Jingtao is unwilling to hit or scold even the family dog when it makes mistakes, much less his partners.
While Jingtao has yet to comment on the relationship, it appears that he has interacted with the woman on Weibo and shared posts about the aforementioned dog, referring to himself as its “dad”.
This article was first published on AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.