Chinese actress Fan Bingbing is back on social media. She posted two new selfies on Instagram and Weibo to greet her followers a Happy New Year, after being away from the public eye since the middle of 2018.
Fan, whom American viewers may know from "X-Men: Days of Future Past," simply wrote her wish for safety and health for her fans in the Instagram post. She shared two makeup-free selfies that were stark contrasts to her usual glossy and glammed up photos.
After May 2018, the actress stopped becoming active on social media. It happened around the time Chinese TV host Cui Yongyuan came out with a damning expose that accused the superstar of committing tax evasion.
Fan's home studio denied the accusation and suggested that Cui had a personal score to settle with director Feng Xiaogang. The actress was merely caught in between this animosity since she was working with Feng at that time.
But Cui's expose led an investigation by the Chinese government. A month later, Fan became noticeably quiet on social media, her frequent recluse when she's not filming. She made her last public appearance on July 1 to visit a children's hospital.
Rumors suggested that Fan might have been detained for being guilty of tax evasion. According to reports, police had questioned some of the people working for the actress. She and her brother were also told not to leave the country, while other stories stated that Fan might have been under house arrest.
But Fan reappeared on Weibo in October 2018 to confirm that she still owed the government $70 million in taxes. She was accused of underreporting her actual earnings, which was a common and unregulated practice in the Chinese entertainment industry. Allegedly, movie stars' contracts disclosed a fee that's slightly smaller than the actual payment they get.
The actress stated she felt deep sorrow and shame for her mistake. She also said that she owed her success as a movie star to the support of her fans and the Chinese Communist Party.
Before her disappearance, Fan was cast in the Hollywood spy film "355" with Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Christina Barcelona"), Jessica Chastain ("Zero Dark Thirty"), Marion Cotillard ("Inception") and Lupita Nyong'o ("Black Panther"). The movie's principal photography is set to begin in mid-2019 and there have been no reports of Fan's role being recast. Cruz also confirmed in an interview with Marie Claire Taiwan that she will be working with Fan this year.
