VANCOUVER, B.C. – The Chinese-Canadian celebrity whose private sex pictures with several Hong Kong starlets set off an Internet firestorm hopes the women involved will soon put the incident behind them.
Edison Chen made the comments Tuesday as he emerged from a B.C. Supreme Court hearing in Vancouver where he reviewed his testimony to be presented in a Hong Kong criminal court case. “I hope every victim can become healthy again and be happy again as soon as possible,” Chen told a crush of Chinese media outside the Vancouver court.
“I hope every victim can stand up again. Their well-being is more important than mine.”
Since the pictures were released last year, Chen said he’s been trying to find his own values and sanity so he can move on someday soon.
The unusual hearing was held to get Chen’s testimony for the trial of Ho Chun Sze in China. Sze faces three counts of obtaining access to a computer with illegal intent for allegedly stealing the private photos from Chen’s computer.
Chen refused to return to Hong Kong to testify.
He told the court on Monday someone gained access to pictures he thought he’d deleted while his computers were being serviced.
The photos – which show Chen in bed separately with eight of the country’s best-known actresses and singers – have badly damaged the careers of both Chen and the women.
Chen told the court he was shocked when the private, intimate photos appeared on the Internet.
The testimony had been expected to last five days, but both the prosecution and defence completed their questions Monday. Chen returned Tuesday to read and sign the court transcript.
Some of the pages hosting the photos of Chen received more than 25 million hits, and the fan feeding frenzy crashed the web in Hong Kong.
When he was asked if he will return to the Chinese film business, Chen said he wouldn’t until the case was resolved.
“I just want to give myself time to calm down.”
