BALI • Taiwanese actor Nicky Wu went through a lot of trouble to marry Chinese actress Liu Shishi.

He had to go through the legal procedure of marriage and divorce again with his former wife, Chinese actress Ma Yashu, in Taiwan, in order to wed Liu, said Taiwan Apple Daily.

His mother spoke about his past and present marriages in an interview with the newspaper in Bali on Monday, a day after his lavish wedding to Liu at a resort.

She sounded apologetic when she said Ma did not get a wedding during her three-year marriage, which ended in 2009, said the report.

Wu rose to fame in pop trio Little Tigers before he switched to acting, mainly in China. From about 1989 to 2001, he worked to pay off his father's debts of NT$80 million, said the report.

Ma once said on a Taiwan television show that Wu gave her a 5.31-carat engagement ring. However, on a show which aired in China, she said she paid for the ring with her own credit card and that they did a roadside bridal shoot.

Wu's mother said: "He wasn't doing very well. He had shows, but wasn't very popular, so he didn't really give her a wedding, didn't give her those."

She said he did give Ma a property when the marriage ended, but the actress, who married an Australian in 2010, challenged the claim. Ma, 40, said she paid Wu for the house in Beijing that she still lives in.

The former couple did not register their marriage in Taiwan, after Wu was interrogated like a criminal about his application for a Taiwan entry permit for Ma, his mother confirmed.

So complications arose when Wu and Liu wanted to register their marriage in Taiwan after getting marriage certificates in China last year, said the report.

Wu, 45, and Liu, 29, met on the set of Scarlet Heart, the 2011 hit drama that recharged his career.