Yanxi Palace Producer Says He Was Ridiculed By An Actress He Had Made Famous

Yanxi Palace producer Yu Zheng is known as a star maker because many of the actors and actresses in his hit dramas have gone on to become A-listers. For starters, Wu Jinyan was basically a second-tier actress until Yu Zheng cast her as Wei Ying Luo in Story of Yanxi Palace.

He recently gave an interview where he talked about his relationship with his stable of stars, all of whom he said he is very close to. He then mentioned that when an artiste becomes popular, he will take the initiative to work less with them and that he also wouldn’t ask them for help. The reason? ‘Cos he had once been badly rejected by an actress even though he was the one who gave her her big break.

That’s not all. He also revealed that an actress who shot to fame after starring in one of his shows had made fun of him behind his back. He only found out about it after someone sent him a screen grab of the conversation which had happened on a group chat. Yu Zheng said he was deeply hurt by the incident and that the actress only apologized to him via WeChat during Chinese New Year this year.

After the program was aired a witch-hunt was started online by netizens who wanted to know who the ungrateful star is. And somehow, Chinese actresses Yang Mi, Tong Liya and Zhao Liying were deemed most suspect simply because their careers had taken off after starring in Yu Zheng's shows.

But their respective fan bases quickly came to their defense. According to Yang Mi and Zhao Liying’s fans both actresses had promoted Yu Zheng’s variety show on Weibo, and the producer himself had reposted those messages. Which means that there couldn’t possibly be bad blood between them.

Tong Liya’s fans weren’t gonna let their idol get slimed either. And they came with receipts. In 2011, when Yu Zheng was about to start filming his drama Palace II, he slammed Liya for pulling out of the show at the last minute which was why he had to recast her role. Tong Liya then fought back saying that she was never offered the role. After that, Yu Zheng changed his tune and said: “She was offered the role but she didn’t accept it. I have to apologise to Tong Liya, I will be careful with my words from now on.”

Plus, after the incident, Liya and Yu Zheng were spotted hanging out together. That’s not all. Her fans are saying that Tong Liya shot to fame after starring in the drama Beijing Love Story which had nothing to do with Yu Zheng.

After Yu Zheng’s latest expose, some netizens are unhappy with the producer for being so passive aggressive by not revealing who the actress is. And they are now saying that he’s just trying to get attention.

Yu Zheng has since responded to the blowback by saying that he never mentioned that the actress was in lead role but instead she saw a rise in popularity after acting in one of his shows. He also said that he has already made peace with the actress and that the reason he is not revealing her identity is because he doesn’t want to blow the matter up.

I thought about the incident and I realised, who hasn’t made fun of someone behind their back before? Especially when that person is down-and-out, he said. And this is why I prefer to provide help in someone’s hour of need instead of adding icing to the cake. In fact, isn’t the person who sent me the screen grab more despicable?