Actress Kitty Zhang splits from director husband after his paid-sex arrest

BEIJING - Chinese actress Kitty Zhang has announced the end of her four-year marriage to Golden Bear-winning director Wang Quan'an, less than a year after he was arrested for paying for sex, said Sina website.

Last month, after he was released from jail, he was reported to have visited her twice in her new home in Beijing.

She wrote on Weibo on Thursday: "In a world where time is circular, destiny turns. In a life carved with notches, time fills them. We have gone our separate ways, but our regrets stay a little longer. May you be well, may I be safe."

Many Chinese netizens wished her a happy divorce, said Sina. Others noted the literary tone of her post, and one netizen quipped: "If their writing is bad, they are afraid to divorce."

Zhang, 28, has acted in movies such as the 2008 Stephen Chow comedy CJ7 and the 2014 Vicki Zhao drama Dearest.

Wang, 49, directed the 2006 Inner Mongolia drama Tuya's Marriage, which won the Golden Bear for Best Film in Berlin.

The two had a whirlwind romance in 2011, when she starred in his historical movie White Deer Plain. They married on April 18 that year, four days after she showed off an 8.688-carat diamond ring - signifying her date of birth, Aug 8, 1986 - on Weibo, said Sina.

Last year, he was arrested for hiring prostitutes for three consecutive days. The Beijing police published details of the case on Weibo later, saying he was "with two women at the same time" on Sept 9.

Zhang had broken up with businessman Wang Xiaofei in 2010, before he married actress Barbie Hsu.

In March this year, Zhang was spotted shopping and skiing with a man with a resemblance to Wang - and the Chinese Internet took her side rather than her husband's. It was the first instance of Chinese netizens backing an alleged celebrity adulteress, said Sina. But Zhang said the man was just a friend.

This article was first published on July 3, 2015.
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