Leon Lai also married

Married in Las Vegas last March: Leon Lai, 42, and Gaile, 29. -- PHOTO: APPLE DAILY

HONG KONG - ANDY Lau has got hitched. So has Miriam Yeung. And so has Leon Lai.

The secret Las Vegas marriages of two Heavenly Kings and a pop princess have come to light in one weekend, after the death of the father of Lau's companion, Carol Choo, sparked queries about the star's marital status.

Lau has confirmed his marriage on his website and said he tied the knot with Choo in June last year so that the couple, who are childless, would qualify for fertility treatment in Hong Kong.

Hours after the report about his marriage to Choo, 43, he posted an apology to his fans on his Andy World Club site. The star, who had always said his fans would hear from him first if ever he married, told them he was 'ashamed' that he had not kept his word.

Lai, 42, registered his marriage with model Gaile Lai, 29, in the casino resort city on March 9 last year, said reports yesterday. According to a record on a public information website in Clark County, Nevada, they used the names Leon Lai Ming and Lai Gia.

This was right before rumours started spreading about their hush-hush wedding in the Maldives on March 15 last year, said Apple Daily. It would mean they had travelled to the Indian Ocean for their honeymoon, after saying 'I do' in Las Vegas, although they denied the rumours at the time, added the report.

Lai's romance with Gaile has been his most public one, even before the couple married. He met her in 2000, when he was still linked to actress Shu Qi, and dated her openly from 2005.

They bonded over red wine, said The Sun. After their marriage, he spent HK$60 million (S$11 million) on a luxury home, said Apple Daily. He also bought her a Maserati sports car with a personalised number plate, 'GIA'.

The revelation of Lai's marriage came after his boss, impresario Peter Lam of East Asia production company, practically handed the story to reporters. Apple Daily was the first to report last Saturday that Lau and Yeung - who are also managed by Lam - had tied the knot with their partners in Las Vegas.

Yeung, 35, and her boyfriend, Gary Ting, 30, were found to have married this month. He is in public relations.

FAMOUS Hong Kong entertainer appears in nude

A FAMOUS Hong Kong entertainer who appears in nude photos that were leaked on the Internet lashed out at movie star Edison Chen, who shot the pictures, for failing to protect the women in the images.

It was the first time actress Cecilia Cheung has spoken out since the photos Chen took of her and seven other local stars performing sex acts with him were widely circulated last year, setting off a scandal that shocked the Chinese-speaking community.

Chen testified on Monday against a Hong Kong computer technician charged with stealing the photos from the actor's laptop. The 28-year-old, whose credits include Infernal Affairs and The Grudge 2, apologised for the photos and has since stayed out of the public eye.

Last week Chen said he hoped everyone who suffered as result of the scandal would recover emotionally and insisted that their well-being was more important than his.

'I've always said the scandal is my fault. ... If lashing out at me will ease her pain, I'm willing to shoulder more,' he wrote in a statement on Friday, referring to Cheung.


An emotional Cheung said in an interview with Hong Kong's i-CABLE Entertainment News Channel aired late on Friday that Chen failed to prevent the pictures from being circulated and never apologised to her personally.


'If you're sincere about taking responsibility for your mistakes, at the very least you should call us personally to say sorry,' she said.



'How dare you say you protected us and hope we will recover?' said Cheung - whose acting credits include The Promise and One Nite in Mongkok - noting that the photos were still online. -- AP