On social media

PROTECTIVE DAD: After an Internet furore over Leon Jay Williams' daughter Harper being called ugly in an online article, the Singaporean actor-singer has come out to thank his supporters. In a post on Tuesday, the former model, 45, also updated concerned netizens on his seven-year-old daughter.

He wrote: "With regard to my previous post, I would just like to tell everyone that my family is doing alright. Harper knows she is well loved by everyone."

Last Friday, he called out a Chinese media outlet for attacking his daughter's looks. "I've done nothing in my career or personal life to deserve such treatment from reporters. I've tried to ignore past articles as I know everyone has his own opinions and I'm not too concerned about them, but this time, it has gone too far," he wrote in a lengthy post on Instagram and Weibo.

Williams spent years in Taiwan and China, and his credits include Taiwanese television series Green Forest, My Home (2005) and Chinese romantic comedy My Sassy Girl 2 (2010). He signed with Mediacorp earlier this month and is now based in Singapore.     He had frequently shared photos and videos of himself and his only child on social media, but said he would not be posting such content on his Weibo account in the immediate future.

He attached a screenshot of the now-deleted article and wrote: "It's not worth my effort sharing my life on social media when we live in a world with these reporters who have no qualms hurting innocent children."

He concluded: "I'm both an actor and a father, but when push comes to shove, there is never a choice. I'm always a father above all and it is a father's job to protect his child."