Surprise, surprise: another Hollywood icon is a mean, misogynistic, and abusive idiot, and in a tale as old as time itself, we’ve actually known about it for years, but nobody was listening to the women raising the alarm. In this case, it’s comedy and action star Jackie Chan who’s being raked over the coals for some pretty terrible past behavior, once again prompting the question: why do we keep valorizing men who get hit in the head for a living, thus making them more likely to be suffering from traumatic brain injuries that impair decision making and increase violent, impulsive behaviors?
The woman who was ignored in this example was Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh. In a 1997 David Letterman interview with the Malaysian-born star, the Everything, Everywhere All at Once and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon lead discussed her work with Chan, and labeled him “a male chauvanistic pig.” In classic ’90s style, the audience did not receive this bit of information warmly, with some groans and boos. After all, how dare a woman be mean about a beloved martial arts icon!
Letterman doesn’t come out looking that good, either, cracking wise about how Yeoh’s comments certainly aren’t going to “help sell” tickets for Chan. The actress then pivots and points out she says this to Chan’s face, who she has worked with multiple times in the past, before listing some of the misogynistic behaviors and beliefs he has, like a firm conviction women should stay at home — “except for Michelle,” Yeoh then claims Chan often adds to his misogynistic diatribes, as she can “kick his butt.”
Chan has been under a negative spotlight recently for his treatment of his children. It all came about because Chan went viral for a clip in which he and a young woman were watching scenes from his old films and reminiscing about his long and successful career. The woman in question was Liu Haocun, who plays Chan’s daughter in the upcoming Chinese film Ride On. However, plenty of folks online assumed it was his biological daughter, which soon led to internet detectives to point out that Chan’s relationship with his real children shows his darker side.
Chan does in fact have a biological daughter, named Etta Ng, who doesn’t seem to have any contact with the actor who rose to prominence in the West in the ’90s in films like Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon. Some have speculated it’s because he disowned her when she came out as a lesbian in 2017, but Ng herself has previously stated that she simply doesn’t wish to see Chan. This could be because the supposedly fun-loving, goofy action star cheated on his wife Joan Lin with Ng’s mother, the beauty queen Elaine Ng Yi-lei, and then ignored the child he’d created while philandering around. After all, if he’s spent years pretending she doesn’t exist, it makes sense that she wouldn’t want to have a relationship with him.
While it is unclear if Chan has also outwardly stated his contempt for Ng’s sexuality, his long-suffering daughter has claimed that she and her partner can’t go home due to having “homophobic parents.” Given her mother seems supportive of her, that does really only leave one parent who can be the bigoted one. Ng currently resides in Canada, and has allegedly been spotted using foodbanks and other social services for impoverished and unhoused people. Jackie Chan’s net worth is reported to be around $400 million.
In a tell-all memoir, ghostwritten by Zhu Mo, Chan revealed the true extent of his neglectful and often downright abusive side, especially when he was a younger man. Some of the worst revelations included the fact he once threw his infant son Jaycee across a room, and often engaged in binge-drinking and extramarital affairs.
While the media focus is currently on Ng and Chan’s strained relationship, Jaycee has also had difficulties with his famous father, who refused to visit his son when the latter was imprisoned for drug possession. Chan allegedly remained distant and frosty for years after the sentence was finished, too.
The actor has courted controversy in recent years for more than just his family issues. He’s an outspoken supporter of the People’s Republic of China’s crackdown on protests in his native Hong Kong, which is a huge change from his 1989 appearance at the Concert for Democracy in China. He has also publicly endorsed anti-democratic stances, even telling reporters that “we Chinese need to be controlled” by their government. So, not quite the happy-go-lucky, lovable and kind man the public perceived him as. Who would have thought it, aside from anybody who’d been paying attention?
