Ah Boys actor says sorry for slapping girlfriend

SINGAPORE - Actor Ridhwan Azman of movie Ah Boys To Men fame has admitted to and apologised online for hitting and slapping his girlfriend.

The incident appears to have taken place around last Thursday, according to the 19-year-old's Twitter posts.

He has since apologised close to 10 times on the microblog for his actions.

In his post on Saturday, titled "I Love This Girl", he wrote that "I know my mistake", and "there's no reason why anyone should hit girls".

Pictures online of the alleged incident show Ridhwan's 18-year old girlfriend Luna Woo with red welts on her cheek, and him lying spread-eagled on a grass patch.

It is uncertain how their dispute came about.

According to screengrabs of Luna's SMSes to her friends, she had been crying and saying that she did not want to go with him to meet his friends.

That apparently angered Ridhwan, who "hit", "slapped", "pushed", and "strangled" her before he lay down on a grass patch and refused to budge, the messages said.

Ridhwan played the character of recruit Ismail in the Ah Boys To Men movies, and has been known on social media since 2009 for his singing, after finishing in the Top 12 of reality TV singing competition Campus Superstar that year.

He said, in an interview with The New Paper published on March 19, that his dream is to be a versatile, local superstar, who can sing in various languages.

In his most recent, almost tell-all blogpost, he said it was Luna who introduced the "new ingredient" of violence into their relationship, when she slapped and humiliated him on a bus and tore his shirt.

He said he did not hit her on that occasion, and ended the post saying that he loves her.

On Sunday, trending on his Twitter feed was this hashtag: #RidhwanIsBack. He could not be reached for comment.

brynasim@sph.com.sg

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