Advertisement

Zheng Shuang's family speaks up about surrogacy issue

25 Jan– After much backlash over her surrogacy and child abandonment scandal, Zheng Shuang's family recently accepted an interview to explain and clarify their side of the story, Mirror Media reported.

Zheng Shuang's father, Zheng Chenghua, who spoke to the media a few days after the issue made headlines and caused much damage to the actress' reputation, expressed his apology for the whole controversy, saying that his daughter had wanted to have children but wasn't able to due to her health problems, and decided to use a surrogate mother instead - which she and her former partner Zhang Heng found in March 2019.

However, the relationship between the two soured a few months after when the actress found that her partner had cheated on her. He said that Zhang's parents came to Shanghai to apologise to them and discuss the issue - which is where the leaked audio of him talking about abandoning the children came from.

"I was putting up an act and wanted to argue back and forth with the other party, which was how we ended up with the overly intense words. I deeply regretted it, but it isn't what we really feel inside. When the relationship ended, the first thing we wanted to do was to cut ties with them. We thought that when the children are born, we would definitely take responsibility for them," he said, adding that he apologised for his comments.

Zheng also stated that the actress had not seen the two children after they were born in December 2019 and January 2020, as Zhang had decided to keep them away from her. He also revealed documented evidence of Zheng Shuang's efforts to get her two children back, and had formally sued her former partner in the US for custody of the children. This included a court document from August 2020 filed in the District Court of Denver, Colorado.

Zheng Shuang has filed a legal petition for custody of the two children born
Zheng Shuang has filed a legal petition for custody of the two children born

The document read, "Petitioner requests sole parental decision making responsibilities for the children so that she can decide in which country to raise the children, taking into consideration how their best interests will be served and where each party will reside. Petitioner requests a shared parenting time schedule that is in the best interests of the children and in consideration of where each party resides or plan to reside."

Zheng's mother also revealed screenshots of her chats with Zhang Heng, where he admitted his mistake and asked them for their forgiveness. In the same conversation, Zhang also did not correct Zheng's mother when the latter scolded him for cheating on multiple occasions.

The revelation sparked heated debate among netizens, with some accusing the public of boycotting the actress without hearing her side and not learning from past incidents. On the other hand, others are saying Zheng herself was to blame for what had happened to her after posting two incoherent statements about the issue rather than show all the evidences in the first place - causing her to lose her endorsements and her awards taken away.

(Photo Source: United News)