China’s most-famous actress and X-Men star Fan Bingbing returns to social media with Instagram selfies to wish fans a Happy Chinese New Year after vanishing in May amid £100m tax scandal
- Fan Bingbing, 37, disappeared from social media in May last year after tax story
- Studio dismissed reports but Fan was reportedly told to pay back £97million
- She later apologised, agreed to pay and praised ‘the Party’s good policies’
- She wished her fans a Happy New Year ahead of the big day on Tuesday
Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing has returned to social media after the tax scandal which saw her ordered to pay back £97million.
The X-Men actress went silent and was away from the public eye between May and October last year when the news over a huge unpaid bill broke.
At first reports were denied but in October the star apologised and vowed to pay the money to the Government, while praising the ‘good Party’s policies’.
Now, she has returned to Instagram for the first time in nine months.
The 37-year-old actress took to Instagram on Monday to share two selfies with her fans.
The caption translates to, ‘I wish you all a happy New Year, safe and healthy! Love you.’
Chinese New Year is being celebrated on February 5.
Fan Bingbing wished her fans a Happy New Year on Instagram today – the day before the biggest day in the Chinese calendar.
The highest paid actress in China returned to social media to the delight of her fans with a message for New Year
Fan Bingbing, the highest paid actress in China, recently avoided the spotlight after she was told to pay back millions in taxes
The post is Fan’s first since May. The actress had posted every few days up until May.
The actress was spotted in public for the first time in October after she went missing from the public eye for more than three months amid a massive tax scandal.
The 37-year-old actress, dressed in black attire and wearing a cap and dark glasses, was seen walking swiftly to a waiting car at the Beijing Capital International Airport.
Fan was missing from social media since May
Fan was embroiled in a tax evasion investigation that rocked the nation. Tax authorities had ordered the actress to pay 883 million yuan (£97 million) in back taxes and fines in early October.
She disappeared from the public eye and her once active social media presence went silent in May after allegations emerged that she had evaded taxes on a lucrative movie shoot, charges her studio called ‘slander’.
A former presenter for state-run China Central Television (CCTV) posted a purported contract for Fan’s work on the movie Air Strike, starring Bruce Willis and produced by Mel Gibson.
The photos suggested that she was officially paid 10 million yuan (£1 million) for a project while unofficially receiving an additional 50 million yuan (£5.5 million) – all for four days of work.
Fan Bingbing topped Forbes magazine’s list of top-earning Chinese celebrities with income of 300 million yuan (£33 million)
The 37-year-old actress was previously the highest paid Chinese actress following her role in X-Men (pictured)
The actress finally broke her months-long silence on Weibo on October 3 to acknowledge her wrongs, beg for her supporters’ forgiveness, and apologise to ‘society, the friends who care about me, the public and the national tax authorities.’
‘Without the Party and country’s good policies, without the loving attention of the masses, there would be no Fan Bingbing,’ she wrote to her 62 million followers.
She added: ‘I’ve been suffering unprecedented pain recently. I’m so ashamed of what I’ve done. Here, I sincerely apologise to everyone.