Tong Bingyu takes on haters of The Ferryman sex scene

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

The iQiyi horror series, which premiered last week, sees the former Mediacorp actress take on her most daring role, which included a sex scene with co-star Qi Yuwu.

She shared a bilingual post on Saturday 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 had left her feeling embarrassed.

The 38-year-old said the script had not indicated that the bedroom scene would be so extensive, but she decided to continue as she felt it would be unprofessional to withdraw from the series at that point.

However, she said she did not want her husband or family to watch it, saying she would be "extremely embarrassed to see their reactions".

After the episode aired, some said the scene lacked passion and did not show much skin, and accused Tong of blowing the matter out of proportion for publicity.

Others wondered if her marriage was in trouble 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 had been 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 yesterday, she said: "This is very disrespectful to my husband. Although he is my manager in name, he negotiates only my schedule and fees, while I decide on the content. We work together based on mutual trust."

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