Wang Leehoms Done it Again

My favorite Chinese pop star rocked the online world when he announced he has a new girlfriend. You see, despite being 37-years-old Wang Leehom has been very hush-hush about his love life. He’s had some ex-girlfriends but they’re never really out and about flaunting it publicly and he doesn’t talk about it much. That’s led to rumors of him being gay. Despite his insistence that he’s not, may people say that he and Li Yundi, a famous piano player here in China, have been secret lovers. It was spoofed on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala last year, and they even have a cute little nickname: Homdi. So it’s more than mere rumors, but both men have denied it.
So, yesterday, with much fanfare Wang Leehom finally announced his “forever love.” (spoofing the title of one of his big hits.) He announced it simultaneously on western and Chinese social media with the same picture and message. He said because she is not famous, he wanted to tell everyone about her; 27 years old, grad student at Columbia and her name. His parents love her and he hopes his fans will too.
All around China hearts were simultaneously broken and heart-warmed. One of my students, on weixin wrote, very late at night, that just looking at the picture warmed her heart and made her happy. Other students told me they were sad because now it means he’s off the market. (It’s pretty certain that the only reason he made such an announcement is because he’s going to marry her.)
I’ll admit, as a big Leehom fan who’s pretty sure they gay rumors are true, I saw the announcement as an attempt to show off just not how gay he was. And I’m not the only one. Singer Wang Leehom totally not gay, flaunts girlfriend reads the Shanghaiist article on the subject. I mean, yes, he’s a huge star here in Asia, one of the biggest, but it’s still weird to make an announcement like that. I mean, people don’t really do that ya know? They just date someone, they’re caught on camera when there out and about and then some gossip rags asks them about it and so on. To make this announcement just seems a bit forced to me.
But anyway, the fuel of gossip was flamed even more when Yundi, Leehom’s supposed boyfriend, ALSO made an announcement about his girlfriend, around the same age as Leehom’s and attending the same university. This is highly suspicious and people quickly pounced on it making some very funny internet posts. (It’s all over my Weibo–chinese Twitter.)

Some people have been connecting Yundi’s supposed girlfriend with Yundi, by matching up pictures on their various social media accounts. Like, one of her in a hotel room, matched with one of him outside in seemingly the same hotel.Or a picture of her has a jacket in the background that he was seen wearing. You know, stuff like that to prove it’s not just a sham relationship.
So poor Leehom. His weak attempt at stopping the rumors by announcing his girlfriend has only made things worse! Despite the rising tension between America and Japan and China because of the new ADIZ, and the increasing pollution problem, this Wang Leehom story is the number one story talked about on the internet. (I know, I’m just as bad but I can’t help it. It’s so darn fun.) Another teacher recently told me that I totally bummed out a class of students when I told them I was certain Leehom was gay. So bummed they went to talk to her about it and said, “Is Becky right?”all depressed. Hahaha.
Anyway, not like it matters anyway, I’ll be his fangirl wether he’s straight or gay, married or single.