Source: Channel News Asia



Former singer Yuki Hsu now a legal assistant after months of unemployment

Former Taiwanese singer Yuki Hsu has revealed in a press conference that she has been working as a legal assistant for over a month after a six month-long spell of unemployment.

She said that she was taking the opportunity to study legal principles in preparation for her eventual lawsuit against her former management company to resolve contract issues.

31-year-old Hsu tearfully said that she had no choice but to take the job as she is her family's sole breadwinner and had not been given any opportunities after an ugly incident during an appearance in China in April last year.

She claimed that a local businessman had propositioned her after her performance in China and that she was so frightened that she switched hotels and escaped to Taiwan. She alleged that her management company had set her up with the businessman.

Hsu added that the company did not pay her the commission that she was due and did not give her any work for six months after the incident. This forced her to resort to borrowing more than a million yuan (S$200,000) just to get by.

Her agent Wang Yu Sheng denied all of Hsu's allegations.

"How is it possible that we deliberately set her up to drink with the businessman at the hotel? He was just a local businessman who wanted to share a meal with her. We also invited Hsu to appear at other functions but she refused," he said.

The company also expressed that it already told their clients it would no longer entertain requests to share meals with their artistes.

It went on to explain that it did not withhold Hsu's commission and claimed that it was Hsu who had privately accepted engagements and caused confusion over her fees.

Both Hsu and her management firm are now preparing to go to court over the matter.

Hsu entered the entertainment industry in 1998 and was known for her upbeat dance tracks. Her debut album sold about a million copies and she was named "The Commoner Queen" at the height of her popularity.

Hsu had been plagued by negative media reports throughout the later part of her career, including some that claimed she behaved like a diva. There were also reports that she had refused to acknowledge her elderly grandfather.