ST 9 Mar 2005
Love on the rocks
Life! traces how the marriage between glamour acting couple Li
Nanxing and Yang Libing fell apart
By Mak Mun San and Foong Woei Wan
IN THE end, the fairytale marriage was just not meant to be.
'We've been living apart and in separate rooms for the past three
years' -- Li Nanxing (above right) on his relationship with wife
Yang Libing in a statement released by his management company, LNX
Global. -- PHOTOS: LIANHE ZAOBAO AND SHIN MIN
Last Friday, MediaCorp actor Li Nanxing confirmed that he and his
actress wife of 10 years, Yang Libing, have split.
In a statement released by his management company, LNX Global, he
said: 'We have been living apart and in separate rooms for the past
three years.'
Emphasising that there was 'no third party involved', he appealed
to the media to 'respect our privacy in this matter'.
This followed days of front page headlines in Chinese dailies and
frenzied speculation that the couple's marriage was on the
rocks.
News first broke last Wednesday that Li, 40, and Yang, 39, have
been separated since November last year and have filed for
divorce.
A businesswoman had allegedly come between them and Yang was said
to be the one who asked for a divorce.
Initially, Li denied the break-up and dismissed the rumours as
'rubbish'. Yang, on the other hand, neither confirmed nor denied
the reports.
Things took a dramatic turn on Monday when Li's mother got involved
in the saga, revealing astonishing details of her son's failed
marriage.
Yang's elder sister and former actress, Lina, also stepped forward
and denied the older woman's claims on her sister's behalf.
So, what exactly happened that led to the split of one of
Singapore's most famous glamour couples?
Both Li and Yang could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Li's manager, Ms Teri Tan, did not answer repeated calls to her
mobile phone.
Yang was not around when Life! visited De Elements, the hair salon
in Toa Payoh she runs with Lina.
Life! pieces together what is turning out to be one of the biggest
local showbiz stories of the year.
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Yang Libing: I'm a tough cookie
SHE is said to be a fiery chilli padi who bosses her henpecked
husband around.
But Yang Libing said she is actually protecting Li Nanxing by
playing the bad guy.
He is too 'soft and gullible', she explained, crediting him for
training her 'to become the tough cookie I am today'.
The couple met in 1986 when they were drama trainees at the then
Singapore Broadcasting Corporation. She is described as a 'chilli
padi' and he as 'lazy'.
In response to her mother-in-law's allegations that she bullies Li,
Yang said: 'This is because she loves her son. Who doesn't have
parents?'
Li's mother claimed that the actor once had to sleep at a bus stop
in the middle of the night - implying that Yang shut her husband
out of the house.
But according to a friend close to the couple, Yang had left Li at
his mother's place that night because he was too tired.
When she later learnt that Li had disappeared, she drove around
looking for him, together with Li's mother.
His mother has also alleged that Yang would kick up such a storm
every time Li wanted to visit her that her son would go home only
once a year.
In response, Yang's elder sister Lina said that her sister had in
fact asked Li to visit his mother. However, she claimed that there
was nothing Yang could do if Li was 'born lazy'.
Yang herself has declined so far to comment on whether it was she
who asked for a divorce, or on rumours that a married businesswoman
is the third party.
The couple on their wedding day in 1994, with fellow stars (from
left) Ivy Lee, Cynthia Koh, Cherie Lim and Christie Wong.
As to what really happened, she said that 'they should know
better', without specifying whom she meant by 'they'.
'When there is a definite answer to this matter, I'll explain
everything. I won't run away.'
Ever since news of the divorce broke, Yang has maintained a calm
and collected composure in front of the media.
In fact, she has only good words for Li, whom she met in 1986 when
the two of them were drama trainees at the then Singapore
Broadcasting Corporation.
'It doesn't matter if I still love him or not. As a friend or as a
lover, I have never wanted anything bad to happen to him.'
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Li Nanxing 'slept at a bus stop'
IN THE history of marital relations, many a husband has been tossed
out of the bedroom and banished to the couch by his wife - former
American president Bill Clinton included.
But Li Nanxing, the king of Caldecott Hill, got it worse. He once
had to spend the night at a bus stop after a spat with his actress
wife Yang Libing.
Or so his mother claims.
She lamented to the press that after Li married Yang in 1994, he
would only visit her once a year, for the Chinese New Year reunion
dinner. 'Whenever he wanted to come back, somebody would quarrel
with him and the bickering would become extremely severe. To patch
things up, my son had to give in,' she said.
Li, the third of four children of a vegetable farmer and a
seamstress, grew up in Lim Chu Kang.
Once, he had to leave his mother's home in a hurry because he and
Yang had an especially heated argument over his visit. That night,
his mother said, she was worried that 'something would happen' and
went to his home at about 3am.
She said she saw him sleeping on a seat at a bus stop in his
neighbourhood.
'I cried for two days after that. Why was my son this miserable?
He's a big star, reduced to sleeping at a bus stop.'
In 1994, Li bought a marital home, a terrace house in Sin Ming
Road, for $1.4 million, although his monthly pay then was just
$7,000.
She said he told her then that he would reserve a room there for
her.
But since then, she said she had set foot in his house only
twice.
She said that after she saw how her son was 'bullied' by Yang, her
relationship with her daughter-in-law deteriorated.
Of the divorce, she said: 'It's time that my son's pain ended. When
two people quarrel all the time, it's better to part sooner, so
each can give the other space to live his life well.'
Li himself has spoken to the press about his days as Yang's
long-suffering husband.
'From the first time we met to the time we were married, I really
had a hard time. I was always enduring actually, hoping to keep it
going, but really there was no way and it had to end.'
He blamed their break-up on their incompatible personalities. She
was ambitious, and he was too low-key, he said.
It did not help that their work kept them apart.
In 1987, Li shot to stardom with his first show On The Fringe. He
was voted among the 10 most popular male artistes at the Star
Awards more than 10 times during an 18-year career.
At the height of his success, he married Yang.
In the late 1990s, he invested in a bar and a disco but both
businesses failed. In 1997, he was caught drink-driving.
Last year, he went into a venture with the management company LNX
Global - LNX are the initials of his name - in which he has
shares.
He is now considering working in Shanghai and Beijing in
future.
As to talk that a third party, a married businesswoman, had come
between them, his answer was crisp: 'I wouldn't dare.'
What about a woman who had been seen driving him home by his
neighbours? 'She's a driver employed by the management company,'
was his reply.
Some of his neighbours also told the press that on several
occasions, they saw him going home in a drunken stupor and heard
him shouting outside his house.
The actor explained that it was because he was running bars then
and had to entertain guests.
However, his mother had a different spin to the story. She said:
'He took to drink to drown his sorrows because he was troubled and
extremely unhappy.'
And now that he has filed for divorce and moved back to his
mother's home, he is a changed man, she said. 'He doesn't even
drink a drop now.'
