Producer Nansun Shi said she and film-maker Tsui Hark divorced recently

Film director Tsui Hark (right) and his producer wife Nansun Shi at Cannes 2011. -- PHOTO: CELESTIAL MOVIES
Film director Tsui Hark (right) and his producer wife Nansun Shi at Cannes 2011. -- PHOTO: CELESTIAL MOVIES

Hong Kong - Hong Kong film producer Nansun Shi has confirmed that she and film-maker Tsui Hark are divorced.

The film power couple have for years refused to be explicit about their marriage and there had been talk in 2008 that they had split up.

But Shi told Ming Pao Daily by phone about the split, "It happened recently."

Hark was last month seen on a movie date with a woman, reportedly his assistant, in Taipei. Apple Daily photos showed the 30something woman fondling his face and Tsui with his arm around her shoulders.

Asked if the woman is his girlfriend, Shi, 62, said calmly, "It's been on for a long time."

Their split would not surprise many. There have been occasional reports over the years of Tsui, 64, being seen with other women. In 2012, Shi told The Straits Times in an interview: "We're not divorced but we have decided that we would have a business relationship rather than a personal relationship."

Ming Pao said the couple, who have no children together and who married in California in 1996, remain friends.

A statement from Tsui's publicity camp said, "Where his personal matters are concerned, Tsui has his reasons and own way of handling them. They cannot all be explained."

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