Saying sorry and smashing records! Chinese actor Wen Zhang set a new social media record on Monday, March 31, after issuing an apology via Weibo (China's version of Twitter) for cheating on his wife of six years, Ma Yili, with a costar.
Zhang's extended message, which was shared on the microblog site, revealed he had maintained an extramarital affair with Yao Di, a costar from their popular television show, Naked Marriage. The actor's confession came several days after photographs of himself and Di, enjoying an intimate date off-set, surfaced on the Internet.
In a post translated by THR, Zhang, 29, admitted to his affair and wrote, "I have brought this upon myself. A mistake is a mistake. This has nothing to do with anyone else."
The father of one added, "Today, I am willing to accept all the consequences. I've let down Ma Yili and our children. My mistake does not deserve to be forgiven, and it will be difficult for me to make amends for all the harm I've caused. But I want to do it. I have to do it. This is what I'll do for the rest of my life."
By day's end, his mea culpa became, by far, the top trending topic in China. In less than 10 hours, his apology garnered more than 2.5 million comments and over 1 million retweets, smashing any prior records on Weibo. (For perspective, Ellen DeGeneres' beloved Oscar selfie to date has 3.4 million retweets and was shared more than 1.8 million times in its first hour.)
Zhang's wife, 37, addressed her husband's betrayal and responded on Monday, "Being in love is easy, being married is not. It is to be cherished."
She is currently pregnant with their second child.
