Actress Tong Bingyu takes on haters of The Ferryman sex scene

SINGAPORE - Malaysian actress Tong Bingyu has hit back at detractors of a sex scene in her drama, The Ferryman: Legends Of Nanyang.

The iQiyi horror series sees the former Mediacorp actress taking on her most daring role with a sex scene with co-star Qi Yuwu.

She shared a bilingual post on Saturday (Aug 28) on Facebook and Instagram, writing: "It was unexpected to have the news shared and escalated to such headlines."

In an earlier interview with Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao, she spoke about the sex scene, which took seven hours to film and made her feel very embarrassed.

The 38-year-old said the script did not indicate that the bedroom scene would be so extensive but she decided to carry on as it would be unprofessional to withdraw from the series at that point.

However, she added that she did not want her husband or family members to watch it.

"I feel that I will be extremely embarrassed to see their reactions," she said.

After the episode aired, some said the sex scene was not even passionate and did not show much skin at all, and accused her of blowing the matter out of proportion for the sake of publicity.

Others wondered ifher marriage was in trouble or even a sham since she did not want her Malaysian husband, Mr Aaron Kee, to watch her acting.

To her haters, Tong issued a challenge on social media: "Drop your comments here if you want. I promise to reply to each and every one of them. I am right here waiting."

She appeared to backtrack later and said she was in a bad mood when she spoke out against her detractors, but will not be taking down her post.

In an interview with evening newspaper Shin Min Daily News on Monday (Aug 30), she said: "This is very disrespectful to my husband. Although he is my manager in name, he only negotiates my schedule and fees, while I decide on the content. We work together based on mutual trust."

She added that he did not know Chinese and seldom watched her shows.