Former idol slammed for showing daughter, 3, bathing topless

SINGAPORE - He prides himself as a family man who protects his loved ones at all cost.

Bruneian actor Wu Chun, formerly of Taiwanese boy band Fahrenheit fame, had famously kept his marriage a secret to protect the privacy of his wife and two children until last October, when he finally admitted at a press conference that he got married in 2009.

Now, the idol has gone to the other extreme, showing on TV how he bathes his daughter.

And that has got some people branding him a bad dad and saying he should not have allowed the scene to be aired. It was part of the pilot episode of Chinese reality TV series Dad Is Back which aired in China last week.

Netizens ripped into a scene of him bathing his three-year-old daughter Xinyi, nicknamed Nei Nei.

Most of her upper body can be seen clearly on screen.

They lashed out at Wu for allowing the bathing scene and slammed the TV production team for "lacking morals".

Other detractors accused the actor of being inconsiderate and that he "forgot that his daughter would one day be a woman and look back on this in horror".

Last weekend, Wu said through his manager that he had left the editing to the show's producers after telling them to handle the scene appropriately.

Although the show does not air here, Singaporeans who watched the episode online have accused Wu of being "naive" for trusting them with handling such potentially sensitive footage.

Businesswoman Kim Wee, 31, a mother of two daughters, told The New Paper: "Perhaps Wu Chun is not fully aware of the dangers of this world and the perverts who are out there.

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NAIVE

"After I saw a comment from a netizen who talked about the Lolita complex, I feel it's only right that Wu Chun ask that the entire bathing scene be deleted - or at least that his daughter's entire body is pixelated.

"He is naive for putting his daughter's safety into strangers' hands."

(The term Lolita complex is derived from the novel by Vladimir Nabokov about a man's lust for a young girl named Lolita.)

But Ms Lee Nai Xin, a 40-year-old housewife with three children, was more sympathetic.

"There's nothing wrong with kids that age in the shower. It's the most natural thing.

"But Wu Chun could have requested that his daughter be in a bathtub filled with suds," she said.

Dad Is Back, which bills itself as the Chinese version of the Korean reality TV show Superman Returns, follows celebrity fathers for 48 hours to see how they deal with their children in their wives' absence.

Wu was reportedly paid $2.4 million to show his daughter to the world for the first time and has one more month of filming to go.

Wu and his Bruneian wife, Ms Lin Liyin, both 34, have since asked the public for forgiveness.

They also have a six-month-old son, Max.

Wu, who lived in Singapore in 2005 before he became famous, was back in town to attend a private fan dinner on Saturday.

He also presented the Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes award with local actress Zoe Tay at Star Awards Show 2 on Sunday.

He told The New Paper: "Some people think it's perfectly okay for Nei Nei to be topless since she is just three years old, but others do not.

WAKE-UP CALL

"Every individual has his or her own way of perceiving things and I just wanted to show every little bit of our life together so that it would be as close to reality as possible.

"I don't think our daughter will blame us (for the scene)."

But Wu said the brouhaha has made him a better parent.

"This is a wake-up call for us. We will be careful in the future and I hope the audience can forgive us.

"I put my family as the absolute top priority. Work is not everything. Family is definitely more important. A good dad is someone who will go all out for his loved ones."

Ms Lin, who kept quiet throughout the media storm over their marital status last year, finally broke her silence in the light of the latest controversy.

Surprisingly, she did not defend her husband. Instead, she seemed humbled by the outpouring of rage on her daughter's behalf.

She told TNP: "I am very grateful that the public is showing so much concern for Nei Nei. It means that they really care about her even though she is just three years old.

She added: "There will be lots of comments in the days ahead. We should listen carefully to the viewers and absorb what will be beneficial for us (as parents) and for Nei Nei."

The producers of Dad Is Back have published a statement on the programme's official Weibo account saying that they will re-edit the scene.

"The directing team has also realised that certain details of the show were insufficiently handled.

"After the programme finishes its broadcast, we will follow everyone's suggestions and will cut and re-edit whatever that is necessary for the re-run broadcast.

"We will definitely present everyone with a satisfactory answer."

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Fellow celeb dad says not to take scene too seriously

People should not take the bathing scene with Wu Chun's daughter so seriously.

This was Taiwanese singer-actor Jimmy Lin's reaction when asked to weigh in on the controversy surrounding Dad Is Back.

He and his four-year-old son Kimi starred in Where Are We Going, Dad?, a popular and highly rated Chinese reality TV series which premiered last October.

The main difference is that Dad Is Back is filmed largely indoors while Where Are We Going, Dad? features celebrity fathers travelling to China's rural areas with their children and roughing it out.

Lin, 39, told The New Paper over the phone from Taipei on Tuesday: "With regard to what happened to Wu Chun, I think people should relax and treat it as a life experience."

For Lin, the most difficult part of filming his show was giving his son the choice of a more comfortable room or the boondocks in the countryside.

He said: "I was very touched when my son chose to sleep with me even though it was so cold."

Where Are We Going, Dad? is airing over Mango (StarHub Ch 836) every Friday at 10pm.

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Lighten up, it's just a dad with his darling

Most fathers bathe their kids.

It's what actor Wu Chun did too.

What most of us dads haven't done, and probably won't do, is allow a TV crew to plant cameras in the bathroom to film us.

It's a personal thing. We wouldn't want images of our naked kids, especially our daughters, to be seen by the world.

But having said that, have viewers overreacted by condemning him for what he did?

I have three young daughters, aged six, nine and 11.

I've bathed them all.

And I bathe my 16-month-old son every morning while my wife is at work.

So I smiled as I watched Wu Chun fumble with the shower, having forgotten to turn on the heater.

Then bathing and chatting with his daughter as the poor kid shivered while being doused with cold water.

Been there, done that.

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INNOCENT & BEAUTIFUL

If you watch Wu Chun's scene from the perspective of a normal parent, you'd agree it's beautiful in its innocence.

A young and relatively inexperienced dad bonding with his child as he tries his best to take care of her, clean her and dress her up.

Of course, things don't always go according to plan. We fathers will somehow mess things up.

But daddy's there and she's happy.

Put on the shower cap of self-righteousness and all kinds of accusations can be made.

It has scalded Wu Chun and his wife so badly that they're now asking for forgiveness.

And to accuse the producers of not having morals?

Bad taste and horrible editing skills? Perhaps.

But calling them immoral is a bit of a stretch.

In an age where paedophiles are everywhere, where upskirt voyeurs can be standing next to you, and where peeping Toms have gone high-tech, people become extra sensitive.

We need to lighten up a little and appreciate things for what they are.

In Wu Chun's case, it was just a young father taking care of his daughter.

By bathing her, he didn't have to tell her he loved her.

She knew because he was there.

Share your views with Andre at andrey@sph.com.sg

cchar@sph.com.sg

This article was published on May 1 in The New Paper.

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