I'm posting this because I like him and I believe he truthfully deserves a second chance. He's a talented guy, good businessman apart from being handsome after three years since the incident. We're all human, we make mistakes so let's not judge other people. We would only make ourselves hypocrite in that sense.
He's also a victim here, so let's not be angry about him and point all the blame to him. It was long ago those photos and he didn't have any intention of leaking those photos. He's still responsible yes but at least he admitted to it, he said sorry. So, let's just please try for forget and forgive because almost everyone else do that. It just so happened that he's a celebrity and someone else leaked his photos for their personal selfish money making intentions. We should just leave the past be and move on.
Credits: Time Out Hong Kong
Posted: 2 Mar 2011
In his most candid interview since the scandal, Edison Chen shares how he’s grown, suffered and survived, and why he’s ready to take Hong Kong back by storm. Words Patrick Brzeski Photography Calvin Sit
Not long ago, Edison Chen was the most infamous Chinese person on the planet. In case you happened to have zero connection to the Eastern Hemisphere circa 2008, here’s what went down: The star of numerous Hong Kong movies, the owner of an influential local fashion line, a well-booked male model, and the region’s fastest rising rapper slash Cantopop singer, Edison Chen went from mega-star ascendant to Hong Kong’s single most deplored individual, virtually overnight, when hundreds of photos stolen from his personal computer were leaked to the internet, revealing him and half a dozen of Hong Kong’s hottest young starlets engaged in coital acts creative and costume-enhanced. In celeb-obsessed Hong Kong, there has never been a bigger scandal. Budding careers collectively went up in flames and Chen vowed an indefinite departure from the Hong Kong entertainment industry, disappearing to Canada in disgrace. To many in Hong Kong, Edison Chen’s story ends there.
Yet unbeknownst to most, while absent from the local limelight, Chen has been steadily mounting a comeback. Throughout his struggles, his clothing company CLOT Inc. and his fashion outlet JUICE have remained profitable ventures and influential players in the local fashion scene. This year Chen and his partners plan to open a new JUICE outlet in Beijing, along with a CLOT/Disney partnership project in Taiwan. Meanwhile he is in the midst of a multi-media, pan-regional return to Chinese entertainment. Last December Chen released his first album in three years, Confusion in the Mind of EDC. His first independent film since the scandal, Almost Perfect, co-starring Kelly Hu, is due to screen at the Asian American Film Festival this month. Chen’s voice and digital likeness will appear as a lead character in the soon to be released PlayStation 3 shooter game, True Crime: Streets of Hong Kong. He also has a new TV show – The Untitled Edison Chen Show, for which he is producer, creator, director, and host – airing later this year on Next Cable in Taiwan.
While he’s well positioned for a prolific future, the past will likely always haunt Edison Chen. Hong Kong is loathe to forget a face-losing fiasco and those images will be floating around in the ether forever. On the occasion of our latest Style Issue, I sat down with Chen in a cluttered Kwun Tong photo studio to discuss what he’s been through, what’s he’s been up to, and how it feels being the most infamous Chinese b-boy in the world.
Since the start of your career, you’ve always received a lot of attention for your personal sense of style. So let’s begin with that: What inspires you, fashion-wise?
I would say my style is based on hip-hop influences, with a Japanese finishing on top. It’s funny because when I first came back to Hong Kong in the late 1990s, a lot of people made fun of the way I dressed. I was a lot more hip-hop back then than I am now. But you know, in the beginning, I think one of the key things that led to people saying I have style was that I just wear what I feel, instead of wearing the trend. Maybe now what I wear is the trend, but I was actually wearing it before and people were ridiculing me for it. I kind of stuck to my guns and eventually met a lot of influential fashion people and they’ve given me their seal of approval.
They admire your style…
It’s not just my style; I think that a lot of the positive attention I get for my style has a lot to do with my clothing company. We were one of the forerunners of actual localised fashion in Hong Kong and I think people look up to us for that.
Yeah, with CLOT you’ve been one of the more successful proponents of street fashion in Hong Kong. Where do you see that style fitting into the local scene today?
Is street fashion hotter or colder? I’d say yes to both. Hotter in China, colder in the rest of the world. China is still at least five to eight years behind. What was hot five years ago in the rest of the world is now very big in China. But the more I go around the world – especially America and Japan, because they are the global leaders of street fashion – they tell me that they’re hurting; it’s hard to do business. But at the same time they’re opening branches everywhere in China and Taiwan, so there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. For us, with CLOT, I think we’re in the best position possible right now – we’re right in the middle of the growing market.
Tell us what you’ve been up to recently.
I just finished my album and I did a voice for a lead character in the new video game, True Crime: Streets of Hong Kong. I’m starting production for my concert tour, which we’re going to do this summer. It’s a bonanza; it’s crazy. I’ve never done a live show but I’ve always had this live show in my mind and I feel like stage technology has finally gotten to a point where I can actually administer this show. There’s going to be video projections, live theatrical stuff and music. This year we’re also opening more stores. I’ve got a film production in the making. I’m writing a film script with my good friend Scott Burns who actually wrote a lot of my favourite movies, like The Bourne Ultimatum and The Informant. So hopefully by the end of the summer we can start production on my first movie, which I’ll be producing, co-writing, and maybe starring in it.
Do you have any major acting roles in the works?
No, not really. I haven’t been acting much because I’ve been constrained by certain forces that be. I’m waiting for people to be more lenient with me, and then I can start acting again. At the moment, if I’m in the movie, it can’t be shown in certain areas. So I’m just waiting it out. If you ask me of all the things I do what I love most, it’s acting. I love acting and I can’t do it right now.
And how are you coping with that?
It’s a horrible thing. I’m trying to find ways to keep myself focused. You know, if you really love something and you can’t do it for a long time, you can start to feel jaded. I don’t want to get that feeling, which is why I’m trying to produce movies. I’m trying to meet more writers and directors and stay involved in film in some way. Because when I do go back on the screen, I want it to be impeccable.
Turning to the new album, the title is Confusion in the Mind of EDC and you’ve done a dark, intense abstract painting for the cover art. We get the sense you’ve poured a lot of your past anguish into this work.
This album took longer to create than any album I’ve ever produced. It took me three years and I wrote over 160 songs during this period. When I first started writing, the songs were very angry, hateful, and dark. The second batch were kind of lost – no hope, no feeling. And then the third batch was more like, okay, I can do this: I’m ready to come back and be healthy again. I’m starting to have hope. So with this album, I sort of took the best lyrics and ideas from all those songs and condensed them into a single album. It’s a journey from that phase when my world came falling down up until I got back into the studio to start recording again. It’s probably my most personal album. To a lot of people, two years ago, Edison was finished. They thought that my star had faded and I would never come back. So I wanted to show people through challenges and adversity, the future is determined by how you handle the problem and how you face yourself to overcome it. I want listeners or fans who have their own problems to think, “Wow, he’s up on stage again, maybe my own issues aren’t so bad.” I wanted to write this album to show kids that through perseverance and self-faith, there’s a light at the end of every tunnel, even my tunnel – and mine’s been pretty dark, believe me.
On your new single I Can Fly, at one point you rap, “Can you forgive me? Can you forget about me?” Where do you think you stand in Hong Kong today? Forgiven, forgotten, or somewhere in between?
I’d say it’s evenly split. I think one third really love me and are really looking forward to seeing what I do next. Another third are sick and tired of hearing about me and never want to see me again; and the rest, they’re indifferent. When I go out to a restaurant, I feel like some people look at me like I’m the devil; but at the next table everyone wants to take a picture with me, and at the third they’re just like, whatever. I’ve literally been in a restaurant and kids have seen me and gotten up to come over to say hello, but their parents pull them down. And that kind of makes me feel good and bad. Good because the youth whom I’m actually trying to cater to, they listen and they understand me, but people are trying to hold us down. I really have to make some quality work and show people that I’m determined on the professional side. Because I believe that’s all that really matters.
On the whole, how does it feel for you to be in Hong Kong these days?
I still love Hong Kong, but I hate Hong Kong. There are certain parts of Hong Kong that have changed drastically for me. I used to walk around the streets of Causeway Bay by myself and people wouldn’t even believe it was me; they would just think, “Hey, that guy looks like Edison.” You know in Hong Kong all the stars keep themselves very housed and nobody is very open. And that’s the way it is for me now, I mostly have to stay indoors.
Do you feel safe in the city?
Yeah, I think it’s safe. I kind of had to shed that fear a long time ago. There was a time when I would see motorcycles coming by my car and I would totally trip out – in America. [Laughs] Nowadays, I’ve had to lose those feelings just so that I can feel like myself again. I can’t live in the shadows or live in fear. If something does come for me one day, then it comes. Now I have to let nature take its course. I believe that whatever’s up there has a plan for me, and now I’ve just got to roll with the punches.
Do you feel that, to some extent, you’ve been treated unfairly by Hong Kong?
Well, I’m indifferent now. I can’t keep dwelling on the whats, hows and whys? Have I been treated unfairly? I think that Hong Kong itself has been treated unfairly. Why I say this is because the power of the pen and the power of the media is huge here. I think the media has put a spin on things in totally the wrong way. And they led everyone’s perception and brainwaves to that destination. I don’t feel that it’s the regular normal population that have generated this idea, I think they were following mass hysteria caused by a certain entity called the Hong Kong media. Do I think it was unfair? They need to make money, they need to sell papers, I understand. More power to you, but at the same time, it’s my life; it’s not just some story. Do I wish that things were different? Yeah, sometimes. But at the same time, over these three years, I’ve gained so much knowledge and inner peace and gained so much direction. It was kind of like a breath of fresh air. It was weird because I would always tell my friends, I need a motherfucking holiday man. I can’t keep doing this. I can’t work 20 hours a day and then sleep four, and then go 30 and sleep six. I can’t do this. I need like a three-month break. Then I got a three-year break, man. [Laughs] I really believe that everything happens for a reason. And I think this has all happened to help me gain more clarity and re-evaluate my life. Do I feel like I was treated unfairly? I think that time will tell.
In the short term, I would lean more
towards yes.
Do you think it was spun with a sexist slant? The way you were automatically portrayed as this terrible guy and the girls were kind of presented as victims...
I think the general perception is that I was the culprit. I never told anyone that I was an angel. But I never misled anyone, which is very important for me. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I guess. I’m not going to be like the media and get all subjective about it and only see it from my side. At the same time, a lot of people who actually have their own values and their own mind, and who read something and develop their own opinions, and don’t let the media tell them what to think, I think they’ll come to their own conclusions. I really respect the people who have used their own brains and tried to analyze the situation themselves. Because the media seems to think they have no responsibility but to make money for themselves.
How has the whole ordeal affected you as an artist?
I think it’s made me a better actor. I’m a method actor. I’ve read Stanislavsky’s books; I’ve taken method acting classes in LA. Method acting asks you to draw on personal experiences to put into your character. You know, I used to do movies and the director would say, now someone’s trying to kill you, there’s people coming for you, and I’d try to get pumped up and try to get into that mode. And the director would just be like, you don’t look like someone’s trying to kill you. And I’d have to admit, well, I don’t know what that feels like. But now? No problem. I’ve got that. I know that. I’ve got that right here for you. [Laughs] So I think that I’m much more layered as an actor and as a person, after all the pain and emotion that I’ve been through.
Such as?
I’ve been in the trunks of cars for hours like an illegal immigrant. I’ve had to duck and weave reporters. I’ve had 500 policemen around my car. I’ve had police tell me that I’m going to be arrested. I’ve been in the police station for five or six days without sleep. There’s so many things and emotions that I can draw from with this experience. That’s why I’m just waiting to get back in front of the camera, because I just want to let it out. When I act now, it’s like my therapy. I let it out. I have no way to let it out right now. This album is very personal, but it’s still not where I want to be. I want to let all this experience and these feelings – or whatever you call it – I need to let it out.
To some extent the bad boy thing is probably always going to be a part of your public persona.
Have you ever felt tempted to just embrace it and be the bad guy?
You know, I don’t try to portray myself in any particular way. I am how I am. Have I thought about taking it to the limit, and just going all out? Yeah, definitely. I’ve thought about saying, look, if this is the way you want to see me, fine, I’ll be the villain. That I can do. I can do that great. But over these past few years, I’ve really settled down and a lot of the rage in me has gone away. Am I’m going to purposefully market myself to be a squeaky clean and healthy person? No. I am who I am. If a reporter comes and makes me angry, I will drop a bomb on you. But if you come to me respectfully, I’m not going to be a dick. I don’t proactively think about what my image is and how I’m going to be portrayed. The only thing I care about is having an opportunity to do the work that I want to do. That’s how I feel at this moment. But who knows, three months down the road, I might be a mess. At the moment though, I’m pretty clearheaded.
In the aftermath of the scandal, there were a lot of rumours circulating regarding death threats against you. Can you share some of the scary stuff?
Threats were never personally conveyed to me, they were more out in the open. I don’t even know if they were real. The scariest stuff was more mental – the stuff going on in my mind. Questions like, is my family going to be okay? Where am I going to go? Do I have a job? Am I going to be able to eat? Why the fuck am I in this trunk?
Yeah, what’s the story there?
To leave Hong Kong I had to dodge paparazzi, dodge haters, dodge police, dodge regular people, dodge everything. Everyone was so into this story, it was just crazy. It was truly amazing. So I rode in the trunk of a taxi to the Shenzhen border to get out. Next time I take that ride I’ll bring a sandwich and a drink. It was a long nerve-wracking ride. I’m kind of claustrophobic and I started wondering if we were going the right way, wondering if the driver was trustworthy. Also, I remember when I left my big press conference and people started jumping on my car, my lawyer turns to me all desperate and says, “Are we going to be okay?” And I said, “My god man, you’re my lawyer; you’re supposed to make me feel better! Why are you making me trip out?!”
What did you do when you first got back to Canada?
I didn’t leave my house for three months man. I had all my blinds down. Thank god I had a good group of friends who brought me food and DVDs. Those were major points in my life when I really needed to examine myself. I was actually on a vacation when someone told me that there was a bullet waiting for me in Hong Kong. A bullet was sent to a TV station and newspaper with a message that said if I returned to Hong Kong to work, they would shoot me. People said that my life was in danger.
Did you take it seriously?
Yes and no. I had work scheduled and was supposed to return to Asia in three weeks. I was wondering if I should go and certain people were pushing me to come, and I started wondering, my god, do they maybe want me dead or something? That paranoia starts creeping in, you know? But there was so much speculation and so much hype and I know the Hong Kong media very well. Yeah, it was concerning, but I knew it was 80 per cent hype. You drop something on the floor in Hong Kong and they make it sound like the end of the world is coming. It was hard to gauge, man. I was with my girlfriend and she kept me thinking positively.
Who supported you through it all?
My family supported me from day one. And my girlfriend [widely known to be Vincy Yeung, niece of local entertainment mogul Albert Yeung] was always there for me. She’s a really really good girl and she let me stay with her for a while. And, you know, a bunch of random people I met in LA. They didn’t know who I was. After a little while they did, and they were like, “Why didn’t you tell me, man?!” And I just said, “I told you I was a fashion designer from Hong Kong. It’s true. End of story.” [Laughs] These people actually genuinely cared about who I was as a person. They didn’t care about my reputation or the things that I have. That was really refreshing to me, because a lot of people in Hong Kong at this point have ulterior motives. One of the most painful things from the scandal was that I thought I had a group of close friends in Hong Kong, but when shit hit the fan they pretended like they didn’t even know me. It was very disappointing, but at the same time, kind of refreshing, because I could suddenly see right through them. They made it crystal clear that as a person, I was nothing to them. Finding a bunch of real friends in California has really meant a lot to me.
As more celebrity scandals involving text messages and photos occur – Colin Farrell, Kayne West, Brett Favre, David Beckham, etc – do you think this might encourage us all to be more honest about the fact that everyone gets a little crazy sometimes?
Well, it’s a very regional thing. Whether or not they do or don’t do it in a particular region, it’s very rare that they admit it. When I first went to America – now this isn’t something that I’m proud of, but it’s a good story because it helps illuminate the issue – I visited my agency William Morris Endeavor, which is a huge agency in New York. So I walked to the front desk and they said, “Who are you and who are you here to see?” I said, “My name is Edison Chen and I’m here to see so and so,” and they looked me up in the computer. After the scandal, I went there and they were like, “Hi Edison, how are you? You’re here to see Charles today aren’t you, right this way please.” Then I get in the elevator and someone is like, “Hey Edison, how you doing buddy? High-five! I saw that shit, you are the man!” And I was shocked. Just coming from Hong Kong, I totally was not in that mode. But that shows you how different cultures and regions accept and converse about certain subjects differently. In America the whole situation might have been flipped on its head.
We tried to arrange your photo shoot for this article to be held at a well-known five-star hotel in town, but they told us they didn’t want you pictured on their premises. What do you say to these people?
I really think they’re being ignorant and closed-minded. I don’t believe that I have broken any laws. I was doing something that, in a natural sense, is for everyone to do. It was normal; it wasn’t something very very out of the ordinary. So what would I tell these people? You just want to kick a dog when he’s down. When he’s up again don’t come and feed him, because he don’t wanna eat from you no more. These people are just like those people I thought were my friends. And guess what, I’m doing a little better, and now my old so-called friends are calling me and asking me to chill. And you know what, fuck you. Were you sitting by my side when I needed you? Hell no. And that’s the same kind of vibe I have for these people. If they said that three years ago, I would totally understand. Nowadays, I don’t quite get it. I work with Nike, I work with Levi’s, I’m doing charity work with a bunch of people. I don’t understand how a correlation with me makes it bad. But whatever, I respect your decision, but don’t come and find me ever again.
You said your girlfriend stayed by your side throughout your ordeals. I have to be honest, that’s quite impressive.
She’s younger than me, but she’s stronger than me. She’s more focused than me. No one would have believed that she would have stuck by me through all this. And I have to thank someone – whoever’s watching over me. She was the main constant in my time of grievance, which really kept me positive and really kept me thinking, hey, I haven’t lost everything. She’s kind of like the backbone of my recovery, so to speak. She’s from Hong Kong, but she doesn’t listen to the bullshit, which was very refreshing to me as well. And you know, I owe her my life. We’re still together. I love her dearly.
In your CNN Breaking the Silence interview back in 2009 you said you hadn’t spoken with any of the women involved in the scandal. Have you reconnected with any of them since?
If you asked me this a year or two years ago, I would have said that I really wanted to seek them out to speak, because I hadn’t forgiven myself and I hadn’t healed or recovered yet. But nowadays, I think that I have to let nature take its course. Am I going to avoid seeing them? No. Am I going to seek them out? No. If I stay in Hong Kong and I stay in this industry, it’s such a small place; I’ll probably bump into them. So when it comes, I’ll deal with it accordingly. I don’t know if it will be happy, or unhappy, but I’m just going to leave it in destiny’s hands. At this point in time, I think that everyone has moved on and I think that everyone has patched up the negative feelings. I’m very respectful towards everyone that was involved and I’m very happy to see they’re filming movies and they’re performing and they seem like they’re smiling again. That to me already is very reassuring.
On your Wikipedia page, it says that your name was the most popular search term on Google in all of Mainland China in 2008?
Actually, no, I was number two to Obama that year. Obama beat me. [Laughs]
Yeah, but there’s something kind of awesome about that, right?
Yeah, definitely. Some people assume that I’m disappointed by that fact. But no, it’s fine. It’s already happened. For a lot of people, it’s like that famous entertainment slogan: all publicity is good publicity. So if you take that approach and you say my reach was 45 per cent before, well, now it’s 85 per cent. It’s definitely gained more awareness for my brand. It really depends on what I do next to shape the story, because the story’s not over. We’re in the middle, I’d say. And like I said, regionally, people look at it differently. In Hong Kong and China, a lot of people see that ranking and think, oh man, that’s terrible. In America, people say, man, that’s amazing – you almost beat Obama! So I see the good in it, and I also see the bad. I try to be more positive nowadays. The measure of man is how he faces adversity. Hopefully within five years everything will be good or better. I’m not saying people will have forgotten about this, but hopefully something will have overcome the so-called scandal and my legacy is defined by more than just that. And hopefully my Wiki page will have more than just 30 per cent discussing my work and 70 per cent bullshit. I’d rather it be 70 per cent real and 30 percent bullshit. [Laughs]
But how do you feel about all those people who looked at that very private material?
I can’t hate on them. It was such a big story that if you weren’t in the know, you seemed like a retard. If you didn’t check it out, you’d feel left out. I’m confused still about who to be angry at – partially myself, partially the people who uploaded it, partially the people who looked at it. But if I put myself in their position, I might have done the same thing, so I can’t be all subjective and hate them. Hopefully, for a majority of people, they see now that this was sensationalised, and they can see the real meaning of it, and if something happens again, they won’t react the same way.
What do you see as the true meaning of it?
The true meaning of it is, we live in a society today where nothing is really private anymore and we’ve allowed ourselves to be put in that position. We, as a collective, need to make a call for greater privacy protection on the internet, in all forms. The second thing is, I think that anyone who is at all intellectual and has looked at my situation has thought, damn, if this was me, what would I do, how would I feel, you know? And that’s the emotion that I hope people have gotten from it in the end, after seeing my interviews and seeing the girls’ interviews. We all need to protect ourselves.
Finally, we have to ask how it feels knowing that all those photos are out there and always will be out there. Have you come to terms with that personally?
Here’s the best way to put it. In the past, before the director would yell action, I would have jitters. I’d think, what if I fuck up? It’s going to be so embarrassing. Now, I’m ready for action all day, every day. [He leaps from his chair and raises his voice] I’m naked, man! I feel that way; do you understand what I mean? I’m stripped down to the bare. There’s nothing you haven’t seen. I’m good. I’m fine. I’ve let that all go. I’m not self-conscious anymore because I can’t be. There’s nothing left to be self-conscious about. So it’s released me in a way that’s good and bad. More good, now that I look it, because I can really let go and be uninhibited and just say, RARRR, this is me! It’s all good.
He's also a victim here, so let's not be angry about him and point all the blame to him. It was long ago those photos and he didn't have any intention of leaking those photos. He's still responsible yes but at least he admitted to it, he said sorry. So, let's just please try for forget and forgive because almost everyone else do that. It just so happened that he's a celebrity and someone else leaked his photos for their personal selfish money making intentions. We should just leave the past be and move on.
Credits: Time Out Hong Kong
Posted: 2 Mar 2011
In his most candid interview since the scandal, Edison Chen shares how he’s grown, suffered and survived, and why he’s ready to take Hong Kong back by storm. Words Patrick Brzeski Photography Calvin Sit
Not long ago, Edison Chen was the most infamous Chinese person on the planet. In case you happened to have zero connection to the Eastern Hemisphere circa 2008, here’s what went down: The star of numerous Hong Kong movies, the owner of an influential local fashion line, a well-booked male model, and the region’s fastest rising rapper slash Cantopop singer, Edison Chen went from mega-star ascendant to Hong Kong’s single most deplored individual, virtually overnight, when hundreds of photos stolen from his personal computer were leaked to the internet, revealing him and half a dozen of Hong Kong’s hottest young starlets engaged in coital acts creative and costume-enhanced. In celeb-obsessed Hong Kong, there has never been a bigger scandal. Budding careers collectively went up in flames and Chen vowed an indefinite departure from the Hong Kong entertainment industry, disappearing to Canada in disgrace. To many in Hong Kong, Edison Chen’s story ends there.
Yet unbeknownst to most, while absent from the local limelight, Chen has been steadily mounting a comeback. Throughout his struggles, his clothing company CLOT Inc. and his fashion outlet JUICE have remained profitable ventures and influential players in the local fashion scene. This year Chen and his partners plan to open a new JUICE outlet in Beijing, along with a CLOT/Disney partnership project in Taiwan. Meanwhile he is in the midst of a multi-media, pan-regional return to Chinese entertainment. Last December Chen released his first album in three years, Confusion in the Mind of EDC. His first independent film since the scandal, Almost Perfect, co-starring Kelly Hu, is due to screen at the Asian American Film Festival this month. Chen’s voice and digital likeness will appear as a lead character in the soon to be released PlayStation 3 shooter game, True Crime: Streets of Hong Kong. He also has a new TV show – The Untitled Edison Chen Show, for which he is producer, creator, director, and host – airing later this year on Next Cable in Taiwan.
While he’s well positioned for a prolific future, the past will likely always haunt Edison Chen. Hong Kong is loathe to forget a face-losing fiasco and those images will be floating around in the ether forever. On the occasion of our latest Style Issue, I sat down with Chen in a cluttered Kwun Tong photo studio to discuss what he’s been through, what’s he’s been up to, and how it feels being the most infamous Chinese b-boy in the world.
Since the start of your career, you’ve always received a lot of attention for your personal sense of style. So let’s begin with that: What inspires you, fashion-wise?
I would say my style is based on hip-hop influences, with a Japanese finishing on top. It’s funny because when I first came back to Hong Kong in the late 1990s, a lot of people made fun of the way I dressed. I was a lot more hip-hop back then than I am now. But you know, in the beginning, I think one of the key things that led to people saying I have style was that I just wear what I feel, instead of wearing the trend. Maybe now what I wear is the trend, but I was actually wearing it before and people were ridiculing me for it. I kind of stuck to my guns and eventually met a lot of influential fashion people and they’ve given me their seal of approval.
They admire your style…
It’s not just my style; I think that a lot of the positive attention I get for my style has a lot to do with my clothing company. We were one of the forerunners of actual localised fashion in Hong Kong and I think people look up to us for that.
Yeah, with CLOT you’ve been one of the more successful proponents of street fashion in Hong Kong. Where do you see that style fitting into the local scene today?
Is street fashion hotter or colder? I’d say yes to both. Hotter in China, colder in the rest of the world. China is still at least five to eight years behind. What was hot five years ago in the rest of the world is now very big in China. But the more I go around the world – especially America and Japan, because they are the global leaders of street fashion – they tell me that they’re hurting; it’s hard to do business. But at the same time they’re opening branches everywhere in China and Taiwan, so there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. For us, with CLOT, I think we’re in the best position possible right now – we’re right in the middle of the growing market.
Tell us what you’ve been up to recently.
I just finished my album and I did a voice for a lead character in the new video game, True Crime: Streets of Hong Kong. I’m starting production for my concert tour, which we’re going to do this summer. It’s a bonanza; it’s crazy. I’ve never done a live show but I’ve always had this live show in my mind and I feel like stage technology has finally gotten to a point where I can actually administer this show. There’s going to be video projections, live theatrical stuff and music. This year we’re also opening more stores. I’ve got a film production in the making. I’m writing a film script with my good friend Scott Burns who actually wrote a lot of my favourite movies, like The Bourne Ultimatum and The Informant. So hopefully by the end of the summer we can start production on my first movie, which I’ll be producing, co-writing, and maybe starring in it.
Do you have any major acting roles in the works?No, not really. I haven’t been acting much because I’ve been constrained by certain forces that be. I’m waiting for people to be more lenient with me, and then I can start acting again. At the moment, if I’m in the movie, it can’t be shown in certain areas. So I’m just waiting it out. If you ask me of all the things I do what I love most, it’s acting. I love acting and I can’t do it right now.
And how are you coping with that?
It’s a horrible thing. I’m trying to find ways to keep myself focused. You know, if you really love something and you can’t do it for a long time, you can start to feel jaded. I don’t want to get that feeling, which is why I’m trying to produce movies. I’m trying to meet more writers and directors and stay involved in film in some way. Because when I do go back on the screen, I want it to be impeccable.
Turning to the new album, the title is Confusion in the Mind of EDC and you’ve done a dark, intense abstract painting for the cover art. We get the sense you’ve poured a lot of your past anguish into this work.
This album took longer to create than any album I’ve ever produced. It took me three years and I wrote over 160 songs during this period. When I first started writing, the songs were very angry, hateful, and dark. The second batch were kind of lost – no hope, no feeling. And then the third batch was more like, okay, I can do this: I’m ready to come back and be healthy again. I’m starting to have hope. So with this album, I sort of took the best lyrics and ideas from all those songs and condensed them into a single album. It’s a journey from that phase when my world came falling down up until I got back into the studio to start recording again. It’s probably my most personal album. To a lot of people, two years ago, Edison was finished. They thought that my star had faded and I would never come back. So I wanted to show people through challenges and adversity, the future is determined by how you handle the problem and how you face yourself to overcome it. I want listeners or fans who have their own problems to think, “Wow, he’s up on stage again, maybe my own issues aren’t so bad.” I wanted to write this album to show kids that through perseverance and self-faith, there’s a light at the end of every tunnel, even my tunnel – and mine’s been pretty dark, believe me.
On your new single I Can Fly, at one point you rap, “Can you forgive me? Can you forget about me?” Where do you think you stand in Hong Kong today? Forgiven, forgotten, or somewhere in between?
I’d say it’s evenly split. I think one third really love me and are really looking forward to seeing what I do next. Another third are sick and tired of hearing about me and never want to see me again; and the rest, they’re indifferent. When I go out to a restaurant, I feel like some people look at me like I’m the devil; but at the next table everyone wants to take a picture with me, and at the third they’re just like, whatever. I’ve literally been in a restaurant and kids have seen me and gotten up to come over to say hello, but their parents pull them down. And that kind of makes me feel good and bad. Good because the youth whom I’m actually trying to cater to, they listen and they understand me, but people are trying to hold us down. I really have to make some quality work and show people that I’m determined on the professional side. Because I believe that’s all that really matters.
On the whole, how does it feel for you to be in Hong Kong these days?
I still love Hong Kong, but I hate Hong Kong. There are certain parts of Hong Kong that have changed drastically for me. I used to walk around the streets of Causeway Bay by myself and people wouldn’t even believe it was me; they would just think, “Hey, that guy looks like Edison.” You know in Hong Kong all the stars keep themselves very housed and nobody is very open. And that’s the way it is for me now, I mostly have to stay indoors.
Do you feel safe in the city?
Yeah, I think it’s safe. I kind of had to shed that fear a long time ago. There was a time when I would see motorcycles coming by my car and I would totally trip out – in America. [Laughs] Nowadays, I’ve had to lose those feelings just so that I can feel like myself again. I can’t live in the shadows or live in fear. If something does come for me one day, then it comes. Now I have to let nature take its course. I believe that whatever’s up there has a plan for me, and now I’ve just got to roll with the punches.
Do you feel that, to some extent, you’ve been treated unfairly by Hong Kong?
Well, I’m indifferent now. I can’t keep dwelling on the whats, hows and whys? Have I been treated unfairly? I think that Hong Kong itself has been treated unfairly. Why I say this is because the power of the pen and the power of the media is huge here. I think the media has put a spin on things in totally the wrong way. And they led everyone’s perception and brainwaves to that destination. I don’t feel that it’s the regular normal population that have generated this idea, I think they were following mass hysteria caused by a certain entity called the Hong Kong media. Do I think it was unfair? They need to make money, they need to sell papers, I understand. More power to you, but at the same time, it’s my life; it’s not just some story. Do I wish that things were different? Yeah, sometimes. But at the same time, over these three years, I’ve gained so much knowledge and inner peace and gained so much direction. It was kind of like a breath of fresh air. It was weird because I would always tell my friends, I need a motherfucking holiday man. I can’t keep doing this. I can’t work 20 hours a day and then sleep four, and then go 30 and sleep six. I can’t do this. I need like a three-month break. Then I got a three-year break, man. [Laughs] I really believe that everything happens for a reason. And I think this has all happened to help me gain more clarity and re-evaluate my life. Do I feel like I was treated unfairly? I think that time will tell.
In the short term, I would lean more
towards yes.
Do you think it was spun with a sexist slant? The way you were automatically portrayed as this terrible guy and the girls were kind of presented as victims...
I think the general perception is that I was the culprit. I never told anyone that I was an angel. But I never misled anyone, which is very important for me. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I guess. I’m not going to be like the media and get all subjective about it and only see it from my side. At the same time, a lot of people who actually have their own values and their own mind, and who read something and develop their own opinions, and don’t let the media tell them what to think, I think they’ll come to their own conclusions. I really respect the people who have used their own brains and tried to analyze the situation themselves. Because the media seems to think they have no responsibility but to make money for themselves.
How has the whole ordeal affected you as an artist?
I think it’s made me a better actor. I’m a method actor. I’ve read Stanislavsky’s books; I’ve taken method acting classes in LA. Method acting asks you to draw on personal experiences to put into your character. You know, I used to do movies and the director would say, now someone’s trying to kill you, there’s people coming for you, and I’d try to get pumped up and try to get into that mode. And the director would just be like, you don’t look like someone’s trying to kill you. And I’d have to admit, well, I don’t know what that feels like. But now? No problem. I’ve got that. I know that. I’ve got that right here for you. [Laughs] So I think that I’m much more layered as an actor and as a person, after all the pain and emotion that I’ve been through.
Such as?
I’ve been in the trunks of cars for hours like an illegal immigrant. I’ve had to duck and weave reporters. I’ve had 500 policemen around my car. I’ve had police tell me that I’m going to be arrested. I’ve been in the police station for five or six days without sleep. There’s so many things and emotions that I can draw from with this experience. That’s why I’m just waiting to get back in front of the camera, because I just want to let it out. When I act now, it’s like my therapy. I let it out. I have no way to let it out right now. This album is very personal, but it’s still not where I want to be. I want to let all this experience and these feelings – or whatever you call it – I need to let it out.
To some extent the bad boy thing is probably always going to be a part of your public persona.
Have you ever felt tempted to just embrace it and be the bad guy?
You know, I don’t try to portray myself in any particular way. I am how I am. Have I thought about taking it to the limit, and just going all out? Yeah, definitely. I’ve thought about saying, look, if this is the way you want to see me, fine, I’ll be the villain. That I can do. I can do that great. But over these past few years, I’ve really settled down and a lot of the rage in me has gone away. Am I’m going to purposefully market myself to be a squeaky clean and healthy person? No. I am who I am. If a reporter comes and makes me angry, I will drop a bomb on you. But if you come to me respectfully, I’m not going to be a dick. I don’t proactively think about what my image is and how I’m going to be portrayed. The only thing I care about is having an opportunity to do the work that I want to do. That’s how I feel at this moment. But who knows, three months down the road, I might be a mess. At the moment though, I’m pretty clearheaded.
In the aftermath of the scandal, there were a lot of rumours circulating regarding death threats against you. Can you share some of the scary stuff?Threats were never personally conveyed to me, they were more out in the open. I don’t even know if they were real. The scariest stuff was more mental – the stuff going on in my mind. Questions like, is my family going to be okay? Where am I going to go? Do I have a job? Am I going to be able to eat? Why the fuck am I in this trunk?
Yeah, what’s the story there?
To leave Hong Kong I had to dodge paparazzi, dodge haters, dodge police, dodge regular people, dodge everything. Everyone was so into this story, it was just crazy. It was truly amazing. So I rode in the trunk of a taxi to the Shenzhen border to get out. Next time I take that ride I’ll bring a sandwich and a drink. It was a long nerve-wracking ride. I’m kind of claustrophobic and I started wondering if we were going the right way, wondering if the driver was trustworthy. Also, I remember when I left my big press conference and people started jumping on my car, my lawyer turns to me all desperate and says, “Are we going to be okay?” And I said, “My god man, you’re my lawyer; you’re supposed to make me feel better! Why are you making me trip out?!”
What did you do when you first got back to Canada?
I didn’t leave my house for three months man. I had all my blinds down. Thank god I had a good group of friends who brought me food and DVDs. Those were major points in my life when I really needed to examine myself. I was actually on a vacation when someone told me that there was a bullet waiting for me in Hong Kong. A bullet was sent to a TV station and newspaper with a message that said if I returned to Hong Kong to work, they would shoot me. People said that my life was in danger.
Did you take it seriously?
Yes and no. I had work scheduled and was supposed to return to Asia in three weeks. I was wondering if I should go and certain people were pushing me to come, and I started wondering, my god, do they maybe want me dead or something? That paranoia starts creeping in, you know? But there was so much speculation and so much hype and I know the Hong Kong media very well. Yeah, it was concerning, but I knew it was 80 per cent hype. You drop something on the floor in Hong Kong and they make it sound like the end of the world is coming. It was hard to gauge, man. I was with my girlfriend and she kept me thinking positively.
Who supported you through it all?
My family supported me from day one. And my girlfriend [widely known to be Vincy Yeung, niece of local entertainment mogul Albert Yeung] was always there for me. She’s a really really good girl and she let me stay with her for a while. And, you know, a bunch of random people I met in LA. They didn’t know who I was. After a little while they did, and they were like, “Why didn’t you tell me, man?!” And I just said, “I told you I was a fashion designer from Hong Kong. It’s true. End of story.” [Laughs] These people actually genuinely cared about who I was as a person. They didn’t care about my reputation or the things that I have. That was really refreshing to me, because a lot of people in Hong Kong at this point have ulterior motives. One of the most painful things from the scandal was that I thought I had a group of close friends in Hong Kong, but when shit hit the fan they pretended like they didn’t even know me. It was very disappointing, but at the same time, kind of refreshing, because I could suddenly see right through them. They made it crystal clear that as a person, I was nothing to them. Finding a bunch of real friends in California has really meant a lot to me.
As more celebrity scandals involving text messages and photos occur – Colin Farrell, Kayne West, Brett Favre, David Beckham, etc – do you think this might encourage us all to be more honest about the fact that everyone gets a little crazy sometimes?
Well, it’s a very regional thing. Whether or not they do or don’t do it in a particular region, it’s very rare that they admit it. When I first went to America – now this isn’t something that I’m proud of, but it’s a good story because it helps illuminate the issue – I visited my agency William Morris Endeavor, which is a huge agency in New York. So I walked to the front desk and they said, “Who are you and who are you here to see?” I said, “My name is Edison Chen and I’m here to see so and so,” and they looked me up in the computer. After the scandal, I went there and they were like, “Hi Edison, how are you? You’re here to see Charles today aren’t you, right this way please.” Then I get in the elevator and someone is like, “Hey Edison, how you doing buddy? High-five! I saw that shit, you are the man!” And I was shocked. Just coming from Hong Kong, I totally was not in that mode. But that shows you how different cultures and regions accept and converse about certain subjects differently. In America the whole situation might have been flipped on its head.
We tried to arrange your photo shoot for this article to be held at a well-known five-star hotel in town, but they told us they didn’t want you pictured on their premises. What do you say to these people?
I really think they’re being ignorant and closed-minded. I don’t believe that I have broken any laws. I was doing something that, in a natural sense, is for everyone to do. It was normal; it wasn’t something very very out of the ordinary. So what would I tell these people? You just want to kick a dog when he’s down. When he’s up again don’t come and feed him, because he don’t wanna eat from you no more. These people are just like those people I thought were my friends. And guess what, I’m doing a little better, and now my old so-called friends are calling me and asking me to chill. And you know what, fuck you. Were you sitting by my side when I needed you? Hell no. And that’s the same kind of vibe I have for these people. If they said that three years ago, I would totally understand. Nowadays, I don’t quite get it. I work with Nike, I work with Levi’s, I’m doing charity work with a bunch of people. I don’t understand how a correlation with me makes it bad. But whatever, I respect your decision, but don’t come and find me ever again.
You said your girlfriend stayed by your side throughout your ordeals. I have to be honest, that’s quite impressive.
She’s younger than me, but she’s stronger than me. She’s more focused than me. No one would have believed that she would have stuck by me through all this. And I have to thank someone – whoever’s watching over me. She was the main constant in my time of grievance, which really kept me positive and really kept me thinking, hey, I haven’t lost everything. She’s kind of like the backbone of my recovery, so to speak. She’s from Hong Kong, but she doesn’t listen to the bullshit, which was very refreshing to me as well. And you know, I owe her my life. We’re still together. I love her dearly.
In your CNN Breaking the Silence interview back in 2009 you said you hadn’t spoken with any of the women involved in the scandal. Have you reconnected with any of them since?
If you asked me this a year or two years ago, I would have said that I really wanted to seek them out to speak, because I hadn’t forgiven myself and I hadn’t healed or recovered yet. But nowadays, I think that I have to let nature take its course. Am I going to avoid seeing them? No. Am I going to seek them out? No. If I stay in Hong Kong and I stay in this industry, it’s such a small place; I’ll probably bump into them. So when it comes, I’ll deal with it accordingly. I don’t know if it will be happy, or unhappy, but I’m just going to leave it in destiny’s hands. At this point in time, I think that everyone has moved on and I think that everyone has patched up the negative feelings. I’m very respectful towards everyone that was involved and I’m very happy to see they’re filming movies and they’re performing and they seem like they’re smiling again. That to me already is very reassuring.
On your Wikipedia page, it says that your name was the most popular search term on Google in all of Mainland China in 2008?
Actually, no, I was number two to Obama that year. Obama beat me. [Laughs]
Yeah, but there’s something kind of awesome about that, right?
Yeah, definitely. Some people assume that I’m disappointed by that fact. But no, it’s fine. It’s already happened. For a lot of people, it’s like that famous entertainment slogan: all publicity is good publicity. So if you take that approach and you say my reach was 45 per cent before, well, now it’s 85 per cent. It’s definitely gained more awareness for my brand. It really depends on what I do next to shape the story, because the story’s not over. We’re in the middle, I’d say. And like I said, regionally, people look at it differently. In Hong Kong and China, a lot of people see that ranking and think, oh man, that’s terrible. In America, people say, man, that’s amazing – you almost beat Obama! So I see the good in it, and I also see the bad. I try to be more positive nowadays. The measure of man is how he faces adversity. Hopefully within five years everything will be good or better. I’m not saying people will have forgotten about this, but hopefully something will have overcome the so-called scandal and my legacy is defined by more than just that. And hopefully my Wiki page will have more than just 30 per cent discussing my work and 70 per cent bullshit. I’d rather it be 70 per cent real and 30 percent bullshit. [Laughs]
But how do you feel about all those people who looked at that very private material?
I can’t hate on them. It was such a big story that if you weren’t in the know, you seemed like a retard. If you didn’t check it out, you’d feel left out. I’m confused still about who to be angry at – partially myself, partially the people who uploaded it, partially the people who looked at it. But if I put myself in their position, I might have done the same thing, so I can’t be all subjective and hate them. Hopefully, for a majority of people, they see now that this was sensationalised, and they can see the real meaning of it, and if something happens again, they won’t react the same way.
What do you see as the true meaning of it?
The true meaning of it is, we live in a society today where nothing is really private anymore and we’ve allowed ourselves to be put in that position. We, as a collective, need to make a call for greater privacy protection on the internet, in all forms. The second thing is, I think that anyone who is at all intellectual and has looked at my situation has thought, damn, if this was me, what would I do, how would I feel, you know? And that’s the emotion that I hope people have gotten from it in the end, after seeing my interviews and seeing the girls’ interviews. We all need to protect ourselves.
Finally, we have to ask how it feels knowing that all those photos are out there and always will be out there. Have you come to terms with that personally?
Here’s the best way to put it. In the past, before the director would yell action, I would have jitters. I’d think, what if I fuck up? It’s going to be so embarrassing. Now, I’m ready for action all day, every day. [He leaps from his chair and raises his voice] I’m naked, man! I feel that way; do you understand what I mean? I’m stripped down to the bare. There’s nothing you haven’t seen. I’m good. I’m fine. I’ve let that all go. I’m not self-conscious anymore because I can’t be. There’s nothing left to be self-conscious about. So it’s released me in a way that’s good and bad. More good, now that I look it, because I can really let go and be uninhibited and just say, RARRR, this is me! It’s all good.
