7 Celebrity Couples Who Rekindled Their Romance
These celebrity couples found their way back to each other after a break
SINGAPORE - The surprise marriage between Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu and her old flame, South Korea's DJ Koo, grabbed headlines last week.
While the speed of the nuptials - just three months after Hsu's divorce from Chinese businessman Wang Xiaofei - was most unusual, it is not unheard of for celebrities to go back into the arms of former lovers.
Some, such as Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, realise the depth of their love only after separating. Others, such as singers Sammi Cheng and Andy Hui, have conquered setbacks and scandals with their rekindled love.
Both were 17 and students at Italy's United World College of the Adriatic when they fell for each other and dated briefly. After graduating, however, Karen Mok and Mr Johannes Natterer went their separate ways and dated other people.
Mok became a singer and an actress in Hong Kong, while Natterer, a German, worked in finance, got married and became a father of three daughters. Their paths crossed again at a school reunion some two decades after they separated. They started dating each other again in their 40s and got married in 2011.
In March 2021, they took a trip to Lake Como, Italy, where Mok, who turns 52 in June, posted photographs of the idyllic lake and a romantic couple shot.
"To be able to spend time with my loved one in the fairyland-like Lake Como, I really have to cherish it," she wrote in her Weibo post.
Faye Wong and Nicholas Tse - Keeping it low-key the second time
Hong Kong singer Faye Wong, 52, and actor Nicholas Tse, 41, first went public with their relationship in 2000, when they held hands as they left a party.
After two years, they separated, got married to other people and had children. Wong married Chinese actor Li Yapeng and had a daughter with him, while Tse tied the knot with Hong Kong actress Cecilia Cheung and they had two sons together. But their marriages did not work out, and Tse and Wong were divorced in 2011 and 2013 respectively.
In 2014, Tse and Wong were reportedly seeing each other again. This time, they wanted to keep their relationship low profile. While Tse has said that he is not interested in getting married again, he is frequently seen by the Chinese media spending nights at Wong's home in Beijing when he visits.
Hong Kong singers Sammi Cheng, 49, and Andy Hui, 54, are widely regarded as the golden couple of Cantopop. In 1996, Hui admitted his feelings for Cheng, which she reciprocated. They had an almost eight-year relationship before splitting up after a heated argument in 2004.
The couple reconnected and got married in 2013. Their love has seen them through tough times, including Hui's cheating scandal with actress Jacqueline Wong in 2019.
Cheng remained supportive throughout, encouraging Hui to return to the stage.
Not all stories of rekindled romances end happily.
The late British-American actress Elizabeth Taylor had seven husbands in her lifetime. She married Welsh actor Richard Burton twice - and they ended up in divorce both times.
They first married in 1964 and starred together in 11 films, but then divorced in 1974. In 1975, they reconciled and remarried, but were divorced less than a year later.
There was even a book about their tumultuous relationship, Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, And The Marriage Of The Century (2009). Taylor paid her respects to Burton privately when he died in 1984. She died in 2011 aged 79.
Text: Kooi Xiu Min/The Straits Times