Celebrities are known to take breaks from social media for a number of reasons, though in the case of X-Men: Days of Future Past star Fan Bingbing, the actress’ mysterious departure has people worrying that this might be more than just a social media sabbatical.
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Bingbing, who played Blink in the X-Men film, is one of the highest paid actresses in the world, though reportedly hasn’t been seen in public since visiting a children’s hospital in China on July 1st. On the Sina Weibo social media service, Bingbing has 62 million followers, yet hasn’t been active on the service since July 23rd. Her last activity on the service was “liking” a number of different posts, with the time since seeing no activity whatsoever.
The actress’ most recent post was on June 2nd, with her millions of fans replying to that message in hopes of getting some sort of response. Her notoriety on the service prior to June and seeming disappearance immediately seemed odd to her fans, with many of them pleading with her for any sort of acknowledgment of her whereabouts.
One theory regarding her whereabouts ties into possible tax evasion. Back in May, a popular TV host accused Bingbing of the criminal activity, with her studio denying these claims, while also leaving fans in the dark about her seclusion.
The speculation about her tax evasion stems from “yin-yang” contracts, which the BBC describes as “dual contracts in which one sets out an actor’s real earnings, and another details a lower figure, with the latter submitted to the tax authorities.”
Once these tax evasion allegations began to pick up steam, her studio responded, “The studio and Fan Bingbing will fully cooperate with the relevant authority. We hope the investigation result can be released soon to answer the public doubt.”
On July 26th, the Economic Observer reported that Bingbing’s staff were being questioned by authorities about the matter and that her brother was prevented from leaving the country. Many posts on Sina Weibo that referenced this article were also taken down, possibly due to censorship from the government hoping to avoid complicating the process further.
Of all the theories circulating about Bingbing’s whereabouts, they are all focused on the investigation as opposed to implying any sort of physical danger for the actress, which should come as a relief to many.
Stay tuned to learn more about the actress’ location.
What do you think caused Bingbing to leave the social media service? Let us know in the comments below!
[H/T BBC]
