Chinese actress Li Bingbing confirms break-up with boyfriend who is 16 years her junior

Chinese actress Li Bingbing, who made the news in 2017 after admitting that she was dating a man 16 years her junior, has broken up with her boyfriend Xu Wennan, a senior executive with an investment firm.

In a recent interview with a fashion magazine, Li, 48, said: "I have no lovers now as we have chosen to separate."

The actress of Hollywood movies such as The Meg (2018) and Transformers: Age Of Extinction (2014) praised her ex-boyfriend as a kind and warm person and said that the break-up was a decision made after deliberations by both sides.

Li said this relationship made her redefine "love", as love could allow a person to see the whole world through another person.

However, she alluded to the repeated online attacks suffered by Mr Xu, 32, when she said: "We thought love is a matter for two persons, but even a strong person can be shaken by the constant barrage of rumours."

She added that even though she and Mr Xu are no longer lovers, they are even closer than family members after what they have gone through together.

Li, who won the Best Actress award for the spy thriller The Message (2009) at the Golden Horse Awards in 2009, confirmed her relationship in January 2017 after they were spotted by the media holding hands and walking on a beach in Sanya in Hainan province.

She then posted on Weibo a photo of them looking sweetly at each other, with the caption: "This is the best arrangement".

However, Mr Xu was nowhere to be seen when Li held a birthday celebration last Saturday (Feb 27), sparking speculation that all was not well with their relationship.