What’s Singapore without influencer drama, am I right?
And if Rachel Wong and Olivia Wu don’t sound familiar at all to you, here’s what you need to catch up on first before you continue reading more about this journey.
Before we dive deep into what exactly happened, here’s a TL;DR summary of the latest updates: The influencer failed to sue the “defamer” for defamation.
Now that you’re all caught up, let’s start looking at what happened from the very beginning.
And, warning: It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Timeline of Events
Annullment of Wong’s Marriage
So, everything started when Rachel Wong, a 27-year-old influencer who has over 42,800 followers on Instagram, had her marriage annulled sometime back in March 2020.
She was married to Anders Aplin, a national footballer. Both of them had dated each other for six years after getting to know each other at Nanyang Technological University, and decided to tie the knot on 27 December 2019.
However, their marriage was shortlived as it was soon annulled around four months after the wedding.
Wu’s Instagram Stories
In December 2020, Olivia Wu started posting a series of six Instagram stories regarding Wong, alleging that she was a cheater.
She even called Wong the “Cheater of 2020”, and proceeded to claim that she was unfaithful to her then-husband.
And if you’re wondering what kind of relationship Wu and Wong have, I’m sorry to disappoint but it’s not a case of catty ex-bestfriends fighting over a guy.
In fact, Wu is just an acquaintance of Aplin’s current girlfriend, and Wong did not know her prior to this saga.
The claims that Wu threw out on her Instagram stories include Wong having intimate relationships with her gym trainer and another friend, who happened to be an emcee at her wedding.
Wu said that Wong and the gym trainer had “intimate and sexual conversations” via text messages on Telegram, and these incidents took place while she was still dating Mr Aplin.
As for the friend, Alan Wan, he apparently had sex with Wong on the night of her wedding.
Wong Sued Wu for Defamation
When Wong contacted Wu about the stories, the latter apparently “refused to apologise” for her actions, and even claimed that they were not defamatory in nature.
In response, Wong decided to sue Wu for defamation in August 2020, seeking damages of $150,000, including aggravated damages, from Wu.
Wong also mentioned that Wu’s Instagram stories impacted Wong’s career as a full-time social influencer gravely.
This was due to how her reputation was damaged, and that her image is of utmost importance since she relies on her image in order to secure business deals on partnerships with various brands.
Wong’s Side of the Story
Wong also responded to Wu’s allegations, and refuted all of them (of course).
Regarding her unfaithfulness to her ex-husband, Wong pointed out that she had a photoshoot prior to the wedding, and that it was “highly publicised”.
She said that she had “fully intended” to marry Aplin in the days leading up to the wedding, and would not have carried out such an activity if she did not.
With regards to her behaviour with Wan, she mentioned how Aplin had passed out on the wedding night due to alcohol intoxication.
Wong, Wan and another friend had helped Aplin up to the couple’s hotel room, and Wong further emphasised that at no point in time was she and Wan alone in the hotel room.
After that, Wu retaliated by saying that the Instagram stories were “true in substance”, and hence not defamatory.
Court Proceedings Since Then
In February, leave was granted to Wong for her to file a separate contempt of court proceedings against Wu. A two-day trial regarding this issue then followed.
Later on in the same month, Wu applied to get correspondence between Wong and the two men from 2016 to 2020 between, as well as Wong’s diary entries about Wan from 2018 to 2020.
Although Wong’s lawyer, Clarence Lun from Fervent Chambers, had initially objected to Wu’s application, district court registrar Lewis Tan approved it.
Lun called Wu’s application a “fishing expedition” that would violate his client’s privacy and confidentiality.
On the other hand, Mr Tan called the materials “plainly relevant” since they would aid the court in helping to find out the truth.
Wong tried to appeal against the decision, but her appeal was rejected by Principal District Judge Victor Yeo last month.
Afterwards, she submitted an appeal to the High Court.
Most Recent Court Update
Most recently, both women returned to court yesterday (29 April).
After Wong initiated contempt proceedings against Wu for not following the court’s timelines, a district court judged ruled that Wu did not commit contempt of court.
In case you’re lost as to what this means, those involved in civil lawsuits must ensure that they file and exchange affidavits of evidence-in-chief before a trial can take place.
The affidavits serve as witnesses’ trial testimonies.
Basically, Wu did not file her affidavit before the deadline, which was set to be on 6 January.
Why Wu Was not Charged With Contempt of Court
However, District Judge Tan May Tee ruled yesterday (29 April) that Wu had not committed contempt, even though she did not submit her affidavit within the stipulated timeline.
Judge Tan brought up how Wu’s lawyers had proposed on behalf of their client to “defer the timeline”.
This was to allow Wu to apply for Wong’s correspondence.
Wu’s proposal was rejected by Lun, who called it an “abuse of court process”. Lun then placed Wu on notice, telling her that she would be breaching the court order if she did not file and exchange affidavits by 6 January.
After noting that Wu did not do so, Wong then filed for leave to begin contempt proceedings.
District Judge Tan then ruled that “not every breach amounts to contempt”.
After that, she mentioned that Wong did not have evidence “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Wu’s breach was so impactful to the point where it “undermined the fair administration of justice”.
Although this was so, District Judge Tan also mentioned that Wu could have complied with the court order by filing and exchanging the affidavits on time before she requested Wong’s correspondence.
Despite that, District Judge Tan then mentioned that deferring the timeline would cause a “more expeditious and economic disposal of action”, rather than both sides filing supplementary affidavits at a later date.
Additionally, she also brought up how Wu’s request for Wong’s correspondence was still eventually granted, reinforcing her point that there was a benefit to deferring the timeline.
It was eventually ruled that Wu’s failure to adhere to the timeline could not be considered to be “blatant or inexcusable or in clear defiance of the court”.
Afterwards, the judge ordered Wong to compensate Wu with $5,200, which was a lower amount of money than what Gerald Quek, Wu’s lawyer, had initially asked for.
Aftermath of the Hearing
After yesterday’s hearing, Lun mentioned to TODAY that they were upset with how the hearing turned out, especially since Wu had sought Wong’s correspondence even before the lawsuit was filed.
It was also indicated that Wong is currently undecided as to whether or not she will appeal against District Judge Tan’s decision.
Additionally, Wong also added that she has not been in contact with Aplin since mid-2020, but he has been identified as one of Wu’s witnesses during the trial over the lawsuit. The dates have yet to be confirmed.
Thereafter, Wong spoke about how she went off to India by herself for a month after getting married as she did not feel emotionally in touch as someone who just got married, and felt like she had to get away from everyone.
She then said that that month helped her arrive at the conclusion that she did not want to be married after all.
Apart from that, Wong also touched on the cyberbullying that she faced after Wu’s allegations, and even talked about the deepfake videos featuring her that were soon spread online.
FYI, deepfake videos are when people take a person’s face and photoshop it onto pornographic clips.
She had since filed a magistrate’s complaint regarding the videos.
She also said that even though she planned on staying silent after Wu posted the allegations, the situation got to a point where she realised that she had to do something.
Wong then concluded by announcing that she has already stepped up to defend herself, regardless of whether she wins the case or not in the end.
Well, I guess only time can tell.
Featured Image: Instagram (@rachelwongggg)
