A scandal has broken out involving a celebrity from China who is alleged to have wished her surrogate children be aborted after splitting up from her boyfriend.
Actress Zheng Shuang, 29, has been accused by her ex, producer Zhang Heng, of ultimately abandoning the two children they had planned on having through surrogates based in the United States.
She has also been accused of callously demanding in a recorded phonecall that the surrogate mothers they had hired, abort their fetuses seven months into the pregnancies.
Popular Chinese actress Zheng Shuang, 29, has been accused by her former partner, producer Zhang Heng, of abandoning their two children
Zhang, meanwhile, claims he has been left with the two toddler children while his ex is now back in China.
On Tuesday, as news of the scandal spread, Zheng was dropped as the face of Prada in the country having been an ambassador for the luxury brand for just nine days.
Zhang has since come out on the social media platform Weibo, the equivalent of Twitter in China, to say that he has been stranded in the US for more than a year because he and his family ‘must take care of and protect two young and innocent lives’.
American birth certificates from the states of Colorado and Nevada detail the birth of a boy on December 19, 2019 and a girl on January 4, 2020.
Both children are alleged to be the children of Zheng and Zhang.
Actress Zheng Shuang and her ex-boyfriend Zhang Heng are pictured in Shanghai, China in 2019
In a bitter split the Zhang family have released recording in which the two families can be overheard discussing the options over the newborns which included abandoning them
Zheng’s name was listed on both documents, with a date of birth matching her Chinese legal documents.
The scandal has set off a debate as to whether surrogacy should be completely banned in China, according to the South China Morning Post.
‘Surrogacy is clearly banned in our country, as its disregard to life makes one’s blood boil,’ China Central Television, the state broadcaster, said. ‘No law or ethics will allow it.’
Zheng Shuang has 11 million followers on social media and has been in the spotlight since 2009 first appearing in a TV romance
Secret phone recordings of the couple have also been released in which the two families can be heard discussing the options available before the children’s birth.
Zheng’s father suggested the couple simply abandon their children at the hospital while Zhang’s father said such action would be illegal.
The Zhengs suggested putting the children up for adoption while begrudging the fact the children were not aborted while in the womb.
Zheng’s attitude during the alleged call and the fact that she allegedly considered forcing the surrogate mothers to terminate their pregnancies because she doesn’t want the babies has seen her come in for criticism online.
The hashtags of their birth certificates and the alleged recording saw 1.53 billion and 1.96 billion views on Weibo,
Zheng, who was pictured in an ad campaign for Prada having been made essentially ‘the face of China’ just nine days ago, was sacked from her position making her the most short-lived brand ambassador in the brand’s history.
Prada said ‘Following significant recent media coverage of her personal life, Prada Group has today decided to cancel its collaboration with the actress Zheng Shuang, which was announced January 11, 2021.’
On Tuesday, Zheng responded to the claims saying ‘it’s a very sad and private matter for me’, accusing Zhang of attempting to extort her.
Zheng has 11 million followers on Weibo and first stepped into the spotlight as she appeared in a TV romance entitled Meteor Shower.
Over the years her emotional state has been questioned, according to The Post but has still managed to retain a loyal fan base.
The scandal has revived a debate in China on whether there should be a complete ban on surrogacy in the country. Although it is officially banned, there is a thriving black market.
Although the practice is banned by numerous government organizations, there is still a thriving ‘surrogate’ commercial market with agents looking for women and egg donors overseas.
In the U.S., surrogacy is legal in some states. Surrogates must undergo comprehensive health and legal check-ups. Chinese critics see the practice as one that exploits the rights of women seeing them as commercial products.