Chinese singer, Huo Zun (霍尊), has been in the headlines for the past week when his ex-girlfriend and dancer, Chen Lu (陈露), exposed their secret 9 year relationship and made several accusations that he had many hook ups with several women and would brag about it with his group of friends. Chen Lu also revealed Huo Zun had badmouthed other singers and would make inappropriate remarks about women. She also accused Huo Zun of using a lawyer to threaten her with jail time if she exposed their relationship.

Huo Zun apologized on August 11 for not replying sooner, but denied Chen Lu’s claims of having trysts with multiple women and bragging about it to his friends. On August 12, Huo Zun was dropped from two of his variety shows. On August 14, Huo Zun’s studio posted a letter from Huo Zun announcing his farewell to the entertainment industry.

In Huo Zun’s lengthy post, he apologized to everyone for speaking irresponsibly and improper behavior that have negatively influenced society. He then announced, “I am very pained and unwilling to part, but I still must bid farewell to my entertainment career.” He also apologized to Chen Lu and thanked her for their 8 years together. Huo Zun explained he took responsibility as his friends around him were getting threatened, lost job opportunities, someone even thinking about suicide, and even his mother getting hospitalized because of severe depression. So he said he is doing the last thing he can as a man and begs everyone to treat his friends and family kindly.

Huo Zun then talks about his relationship with Chen Lu. They met in 2012 and started dating in May 2013. During their early days together, Huo Zun said they split their expenses whether it be traveling together or buying couple outfits. It wasn’t until he started getting noticed for his appearance on “Sing My Song” (中国好歌曲). Huo Zun started giving Chen Lu spending money from time to time even though she rejected it at first because she had her own salary. Huo Zun said whenever his company transferred money to him, he would give Chen Lu spending money. When his financial situation got even better, Huo Zun said he would give her a 5-figure spending money from time to time. He also said he bought her bags and shoes from resellers. Huo Zun declared that in their 8 years together, he only had Chen Lu as his only girlfriend and that he wholeheartedly gave his mind and body to her. He also said, “I didn’t cheat, didn’t hook up. I only gave my heart, my body, and my feelings to one person.”

He then proceeds to talk about the group chats he had with “the boys”. He mentioned that it was a chat with his work colleagues from Shanghai where they talked about music, work, life, and art. Alas, Huo Zun explained that because men are repulsive, they would have some bad habits, like talking about sex. He explained that girlfriends and wives knew about this chat. He also apologized to women for his prior comments and explained that because most of the men in the chat are his seniors, he pretended that he had a lot of sexual experiences. He also mentioned that when he broke up with Chen Lu, he was 30 and abided by the “husband’s way” and claims his only sexual experiences was only ever with her.

Huo Zun expressed regret about his past remarks and explained it’s because he is impulsive and can easily say vicious things. However, he also said, “There are no saints in this world.”, and that he is just an ordinary person.

He also mentioned some of his fans attacking Chen Lu through private messages. Because he didn’t want society to pay so much attention on his relationship and wanted to protect Chen Lu, he unfollowed her. Huo Zun mentioned he started noticing the lack of spiritual and verbal interaction with Chen Lu. He saw his friends were living the envious life he wanted. He started having doubts about his relationship and feared about his possible future marriage with Chen Lu. So he asked his buddies from his group chat for advice. He denied Chen Lu’s claims he asked his friends for advice on how to make her initiate the break up as he was no longer in love with her and couldn’t do it due to his celebrity status.

Huo Zun broke up with Chen Lu a few times, but he took it back because she was crying. They finally ended things in September 2020. He said he should’ve ended things earlier and allow each other to be set free. He only realized now how much of a blow it was for Chen Lu at the time.

According to Huo Zun, Chen Lu contacted him in May for the first time in 8 months after their break up and told him to meet her. Huo Zun told her that it was so sudden and thought she would have deleted his contact already. They met up and Huo Zun asked Chen Lu how she was doing. She reportedly said, “Not as good as you. You seem to be doing pretty well lately.” Huo Zun then alleges that Chen Lu handed him a piece of paper with a screenshot of a conversation and asked him to give her a price.

Afterwards, Chen Lu went to Huo Zun’s office with her friend to sign the agreement and asked for 580,000 RMB. Huo Zun started discussing with his friends and they told him Chen Lu might be committing blackmail and extortion. So he said he has to stop giving her money. Even if he were to continue, he said it needed to be done in a safe way. So he had a mutual friend to invite Chen Lu to their home and stated he had her permission to let lawyer come and explain the severity of the situation. Huo Zun claims the atmosphere was good, but he didn’t expect Chen Lu and her friend, Wang Meng’s words to have turned the situation into a scheme, being detained, and threatened.

Lastly, Huo Zun said Chen Lu wasn’t the person he first met anymore. He said he has paid the price for his words and behavior and he doesn’t blame Chen Lu, but regretted that their break up wasn’t pretty. Huo Zun said he couldn’t close his eyes for a few days. Once he opened them, he would see his mother getting hysterical. He hopes the hurt stops today and is sorry that his brothers are paying the price for him.

Chen Lu responded to Huo Zun’s account of the events and said he was saying one thing on the surface and another in private, like, “In front of people (Huo Zun): I’ve only ever loved her in my life. May I ask if my soul left my body and went to the private movie theater?”, in reference to Huo Zun reportedly having a tryst with a female guitarist at a private movie theater.

Chen Lu admits she did receive 580,000 RMB, but says that Huo Zun’s lawyer warned her: “The amount of 580,000 is just enough to send me jail for 10 years.”

She also confirms that she did get spending money from Huo Zun, but says that whenever it was them two eating, she always paid for it. Chen Lu said she asked him to help her buy a bag from a reseller, but paid him back and he received the money without hesitation. Chen Lu also showed screenshots asking a friend who already had a girlfriend to pose as her boyfriend when meeting with Huo Zun post-breakup. She said she is a hopeless romantic and still thought there was hope Huo Zun would want to get back with her.

Credit: Weibo (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)