Nicholas Tse and Cecilia Cheung during happier times ... or was this staged too?

I’m usually not the sort who follows gossip about celebrities’ marriage woes, knowing that a lot of times, it’s all a shadow puppet game conducted by PR machines.

Years ago, I attended the Troy junket in New York city, and a reporter asked Brad Pitt how his marriage with Jennifer Aniston was. (Back then there were rumours about them going splitsville.) Pitt gushed about how he loved her, and spoke fondly about her daily routine etc. I remembered thinking, “Huh. Sure.” And at the same time I felt sad that celebrities had to discuss their private lives with strangers that way.

Sure enough, Pitt and Aniston were no longer a couple a few months after the junket, what with the whole Angelina Jolie thing …

So, the latest wayang kulit involves Hong Kong superstar Nicholas Tse and Cecilia Cheung. After months of “will  they or wouldn’t they“, the two have announced that they’re going to divorce.

Here’s the latest to the saga: Cecilia Cheung had an explosive interview with Oriental Daily News, saying that Tse was the one behind the rumours of her being a gold digger and that he was a neglectful father :

He’s never cared much about the kids. Whenever he’s at home, it’s like the kids are invisible to him – he pretty much ignores them! The only reason he wanted me to have kids was so he could tie me down – he actually doesn’t even like children!

Yeowch.

Good luck with the lawyers, kids. You’re going to need it!