CELEBRITY LOVE SCANDALS: The picture is not Real??HK cops say earlier photos in Edison Chen scandal appear real

HK cops say earlier photos in Edison Chen scandal appear real

YET another female celebrity has fallen victim to the nude-picture scandal now raging on Hong Kong newstands.

Raunchy images of Hong Kong singer Joey Yung captured in suggestive poses surfaced online on Thursday, the fourth female celebrity to have racy photos supposedly exposed in the media.

But while the other female celebrities have all been romantically linked with Hong Kong actor Edison Chen, Joey has not been known to have been involved with him.

Are the latest pictures genuine?

That is the question police investigators are trying to determine.

The chain of scandal began on Sunday when a compromising photo of Twins star Gillian Chung and EdisonChen appeared in the adult photo section of a Hong Kong forum.

More pictures appeared, one allegedly showing retired singer-actress Bobo Chan performing a sex act on Edison.

Still more pictures followed, this time supposedly showing actress Cecilia Cheung in various states of undress.

MAY BE REAL

Hong Kong police and photo experts who examined the photos involving the first three female celebrities say the photos are unlikely to have been digitally manipulated.

They have the following reasons:

Firstly, they said the lighting and shadows in the background are hard to piece together digitally.

Secondly, the faces and the necks of the celebrities shown do not appear to be digitally joined.

The police also said that because of the low resolution of the photos, they are not ruling out the possibility of the pictures having been taken with a handphone.

Meanwhile, rumours are rife that the marriage of Cecilia Cheung and Nicholas Tse is on the rocks over the scandal.

However, Patrick Tse, Nicholas's father, has refuted these rumours.

A spokesman for Cecilia said the actress hopes the culprit will be apprehended soon.

She also dismissed rumours of her marriage turning sour and said their relationship was good, and thanked everyone for their concern.

There has also been talk that Gillian had attempted suicide following the scandal.

But her manager has explained to the media that Gillian has been given leave to rest following a bout of fever due to the recent cold weather.

The Hong Kong media has recently listed 14 female celebrities who are allegedly at risk of being 'exposed'.

Among them are Elva Hsiao, Jolin Tsai, Maggie Q, Nikki Chow, Rain Li and Rosanne Wong.

These celebrities have all been linked with Edison at some point.

The on-going scandal, along with that involving a Singaporean whose nude pictures have been circulated ever since he joined the Manhunt contest (See report on page10.), raises the question: Why risk being exposed by having nude, compromising pictures taken in the firstplace?

Celebrities and star-wannabees are not alone, said Dr Lionel Lim, a consultant psychiatrist at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre. He said some ordinary people also like to capture themselves on video engaged in sexual acts for various reasons.

Said Dr Lim: 'Some people like to do it because they are curious about what it would be like to be on the other side of the camera.

'There is an element of exhibitionism. They may think they have nice bodies and enjoy looking at themselves, and film themselves for their own private consumption,' he added.

'On the other hand, there are the other group of people who capture themselves in sexual acts as it may increase their arousal,' he said.

DEVIANT

'In such cases, there might be a little bit of a voyeuristic tendency.

'Watching their own videos suggests a voyeuristic tendency while being filmed smacks of exhibitionism,' hesaid.

'Either way, these two tendencies are sexual in nature.