Actor And Agency Part Ways Amid His Illegitimate Children Scandal
A talent agency has declined to answer questions about a scandal-plagued actor it no longer represents. The agency has also removed his profile from its official website.
Zhang Yaodong is a Malaysian actor who rose to fame in the early 2000s after he competed on Star Search, a talent competition show created by Singaporean conglomerate Mediacorp. Zhang, who is based in Singapore, has gone on to star in many TV series, including Mediacorp’s Born to Shine in 2024.
Since last July, Zhang has been embroiled in scandal. After a netizen accused him of lying to women and having illegitimate children, Zhang publically admitted to having two daughters and said that he regrets not being around when they were younger. On November 9, 2024, Zhang posted this photo of the girls, who are believed to be in their teens, on his social media.
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In January, a netizen who claimed to be the mother of one of Zhang’s illegitimate children–a two-year-old–claimed that the two daughters Zhang had revealed weren’t his only children. She claimed that Zhang had asked her to abort their child and is now absent from the two-year-old’s life. Additionally, she accused Zhang of having relationships with multiple women at once.
According to this woman, Zhang has several more illegitimate children: one in Indonesia, one in China, two in Thailand, and two daughters (and one aborted child) with a Singaporean woman he has allegedly dated for 20 years.
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The most recent wave of scandal hit Zhang earlier this month, when a netizen released audio logs that allegedly belonged to Zhang. In one, a man (allegedly Zhang) cpuld be heard discussing whether or not he should admit to having two daughters. In another, he allegedly criticized scripts, stating that “Singapore’s scripts are famous for being lousy.”
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News of Zhang’s departure from The Celebrity Agency, an agency under Mediacorp, first broke on February 20. Two days later, a Mediacorp spokesperson stated that the decision to part ways was mutual.
Zhang Yaodong’s contract with Mediacorp has ended. The decision was mutual, and we seek your understanding that we are unable to share further details pertaining to the contract.
— Mediacorp representative
Zhang has not yet released a statement about leaving his agency nor addressed the latest allegations about his personal life.
