Divorce rumors started swirling the past week after it was reported table tennis Olympian, Ai Fukuhara (福原愛), was not seen wearing a wedding ring in pictures and returning to Japan. She later clarified that she is temporarily staying in Japan to take care of her sick mother. Ai Fukuhara’s husband, Chiang Hung-chieh (江宏傑), is staying in Taiwan because of work commitments. He spoke to the media and denied any divorce or separation rumors and revealed Ai Fukuhara is set to return to Taiwan at the end of March.

However, divorce rumors started circulating again when Japanese media reported Ai Fukuhara was allegedly on a date with another man. Ai Fukuhara was spotted eating with a man and returning to the same hotel. The next day, they were also spotted hanging out together the whole day and returned to the same hotel again.

Chiang Hung-chieh Files for Divorce from Table Tennis Champion, Ai Fukuhara

All kinds of reports followed saying Ai Fukuhara first had thoughts about divorce in 2019 claiming Chiang Hung-chieh was verbally abusive to her, especially during her first pregnancy. Ai Fukuhara couldn’t take it anymore and reportedly returned to Japan with their two children at the end of 2019. Chiang Hung-chieh went to Japan to apologize to Ai Fukuhara and salvage their relationship. There are now reports that Ai Fukuhara had asked for a divorce in January.

Ai Fukuhara confirmed to the Japanese media that she was hanging out with her friend, but stressed that they have their own separate hotel rooms. She says he is a friend that has been supporting her due to her recent “poor psychological state”. As for the future of their marriage, Ai Fukuhara responded, “We will discuss it as a couple and make a decision. Extremely sorry for causing the commotion.”

Chiang Hung-chieh’s management company addressed the latest news and said, “They didn’t divorce. Chang Hung-chieh doesn’t know the man Ai Fukuhara was out with. International marriages indeed require both parties to work hard together on a lot of things. The both of them have already expressed to the media before that they will talk about the family matters regularly. Don’t attack our family. Right now, the children and Ai Fukuhara’s mother are being taken care of by the Chang family.”

Credit: ETtoday, Chang Hung-chieh