HONG KONG - EDISON Chen seems to be attempting to resuscitate his career since returning to Hong Kong after last year's sex photo scandal.

Over the past week, the pop idol has been snapped venturing out of his hotel. He went to his fashion business, dined with his actor godfather Anthony Wong and met director Andrew Lau, singer Josie Ho, newly signed on to Chen's media company, and a Commercial Radio senior executive.

Speaking on CNN on Wednesday, he stopped short of saying he was back for good after his self-exile abroad in the wake of the scandal involving him and stars such as Cecilia Cheung.

But he spoke of how the scandal changed him. Even Lau, who gave a separate interview last Wednesday, said Chen 'has aged by five to six years. He's not like a youth but a burdened man'.

Chen, 28, said on CNN's Talk Asia about starting in Hong Kong showbiz at age 19: 'I was just out of school. It was like a party.'

'It's fun. You do it. You don't really think about the outcome... When you're a teenager... when you're a celebrity, and you have this and that, I think maybe you go overboard a bit,' he said, about why he snapped the photos.

That life of a carefree celebrity changed when he had to ride in the trunks of Hong Kong cabs after receiving his first death threat, around the time the pictures, stolen from his laptop, leaked on the Net.

In Canada, Los Angeles and New York, he lived in fear.

'I was really afraid of just people and a sudden car movement, I was afraid of motor-bikers when I was driving because I was afraid of everything,' he said.

He had to do his own chores, taking out the garbage and going grocery shopping but 'that really grounded me and really gave me a very different perspective of life'.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times Life!