Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, who appeared in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, has settled a libel lawsuit with a dissident news website based in the U.S. The site, Boxun News, had claimed that she had received payments for sleeping with Chinese officials.
According to the BBC, the site had claimed that Zhang was paid $100 million by officials. But the site later posted a retraction, noting that the “negative and untrue information” could not be supported and was “improper.”
The original reports were posted back in May 2012, reports The Associated Press. Zhang then sued Boxun News’ parent company in Los Angeles court, as well as Weican Null Meng, a U.S. citizen who founded the company, based in North Carolina.
Zhang, 34, claimed that the stories had damaged her reputation. “Nineteen months, and nearly 600 nights and days, is perhaps not very long for a scandal case, but it is long enough to destroy an innocent person's reputation,” she said on her official website, notes the BBC.
The stories grabbed international attention and were republished around the world. Although Boxun is blocked in China, they still grabbed attention there since one claim was that she slept with disgraced politician Bo Xilai.
She also won a libel suit against Next Media in Hong Kong last year.
Zhang’s English credits include Rush Hour 2, Memoirs of a Geisha and Horsemen. She also won acclaim for her role in Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grandmaster.
image: Wikimedia Commons
