Zhang Yuqi’s attempt to make her comeback following her surrogacy scandal seemed to have backfired, after a throng of netizens expressed dissatisfaction with her decision.
The actress, who was previously accused of hiring a surrogate mother, returned to livestream on the eve of International Women’s Day via Douyin, two months after she was accused of such, to promote affordable makeup products and interact with fans.
However, many netizens decided to question her about the surrogacy controversy instead during the livestream, demanding that she show her child’s birth certificate and prenatal checkup records. Others expressed their ire that Zhang has decided to make her comeback just before International Women’s Day.
They stated that surrogacy is essentially the exploitation of women’s bodies, and that as a public figure, her actions of celebrating Women’s Day and profiting without addressing the surrogacy allegations are repulsive.
The usually outspoken actress, on the other hand, remained silent and focused only on selling the products.
The whole surrogacy issue sparked back in January, when Ge Xiaoqian, the former girlfriend of Zhang’s ex-husband Yuan Bayuan, alleged that the actress was the third party in her marriage. She also questioned whether Zhang had illegally hired a surrogate mother, claiming that her twins born in 2017 were actually “one biological child and one surrogate child,” with the children’s birth dates nearly three months apart from one another.
Zhang never did respond to the allegations, and did not update her Weibo account since 12 January. During this period, it was also reported that she lost several TV projects and endorsement contracts.
