Choa and His Daughter Gigi. |
Chao, 76, a Hong Kong real estate magnate, made headlines late last year when news reports quoted him as saying he would offer $500 million
Hong Kong dollars -- $65 million in U.S. cash -- to a successful male
suitor for Gigi Chao, one of Cecil Chao's three children.
Since the announcement, offers from men around the world have come pouring in, but the tycoon's daughter isn't interested.
Gigi Chao, 33, has been in a relationship with a
woman, Sean Eav, for eight years. The pair made it official in a church
ceremony in Paris earlier this year.
Gigi Chao said she broke the news of the Paris ceremony to her father in June.
"He was surprised and unpleasantly shocked by it," she recalled. She
said her father also urged her not to make the news public, but word
leaked out when a tabloid reporter asked Eav in September when the two
would be married. Eav told the reporter the couple was already married.
Meanwhile, Cecil Chao questioned the validity of his daughter's marriage.
"I explained to him that it's (by) no means legal, and it's a church
ceremony -- a church blessing," Gigi Chao said. "And so, he found it
necessary to make an announcement that, 'My daughter is, in fact, not
married, she's still single.'"
But Cecil Chao then went a step further.
While "the reporters had their mikes in his face, he just kind of goes,
'No. No, she's not homosexual. She's not-- she doesn't have gay
tendencies. She's not married. In fact, I'm trying to find a husband for
her. Why don't you guys try to help me. I'll offer 500 million,'" Gigi
Chao said.
Long time watchers of Cecil Chao, a staple of Hong Kong tabloids for
years, may find his sudden championing of marriage surprising. Chao
himself has never married. He fathered his three children with three
different women and has boasted of sleeping with more than 10,000 women.
Nonetheless, he said he wants a "normal family life" for his daughter.
Cecil Chao said his only criteria for a male suitor is that Gigi Chao must love him, and that he must like Gigi.
Though nothing, he added, will ever change his love for his daughter, he
said he never wants to meet the woman that Gigi Chao calls her "life
partner."
The tension over Gigi Chao's love life notwithstanding, the Chaos have maintained their father-daughter relationship.
"I am happy. And he knows I am happy," she said. "He just wants me to be more happy."
The Offer is still on you can be that lucky Man....
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