TAIPEI - The fallout over Taiwanese-American singer Wang Leehom's failed attempt to visit his children continued as his estranged wife Lee Jinglei accused him of hiring a troll army to defend his case.
In a post late on Tuesday (Jan 11), Lee said she was "spooked" after Wang came to her Taipei apartment with three men to meet their children on Sunday.
She refused to let them in and said Wang tried to force his way in using his keys. She added that their frightened children started crying when he banged on the door forcefully.
Wang, 45, and Lee, 35, married in 2013 and have three children aged three to seven. The singer confirmed their divorce on social media on Dec 15 and Lee responded with an expose in which she accused him of having had multiple affairs and being an absent father.
Soon after Lee's post on Tuesday, a netizen - believed to be one of Wang's staff - circulated on the Internet photos of balloons and gifts left outside the apartment, and said Lee should not have rejected a father who brought them for his children.
Lee responded to the claims on Instagram and Weibo on Thursday, writing in Chinese: "Not only did you not show remorse for doing something wrong, you even get your troll army to confuse the public and divert attention from the real issue. The photos could only have been taken by you and no one else."
She said he brought the balloons and the gifts in an attempt to trick her into opening the door and also to block the closed-circuit television (CCTV).
Wang, she added, had asked her repeatedly to stop the CCTV recording before he would enter the apartment.
Lee also posted copies of payment request forms used by Wang's company to hire a troll army to prove her point.
The forms showed various expenditures including 50,000 yuan (S$10,600) to get one million fans on Instagram, and 840 yuan to get 40,000 likes and 400 comments for an Instagram photo of him taking his vaccination in the United States on June 11.
Meanwhile, Wang said on Thursday morning that his lawyer had advised him not to meet Lee without the company of other people.
Lee refuted this and said that the divorce agreement states that Wang can visit her and the children only at a time agreed by both parties.
She asked if the legal firm had advised Wang to violate the agreement by taking along unauthorised people.
Wang's agency told Taiwanese media that one of the three men who accompanied him has been an aide for the couple for 12 years. The other two are a long-time employee and a bodyguard.
