In the mood for love? Hong Kong tycoon Cecil Chao seeks husband for lesbian daughter Gigi — and offers $65m bounty
Gigi Chao with father Cecil Chao, a Hong Kong tycoon and property developer. Cecil Chao has reportedly offered a HK$1 billion (about $100 million) “marriage bounty” to find a husband for his lesbian daughter.
Poor Gigi Chao. Just a week after the 33-year-old Hong Kong socialite revealed she is married to her female partner of seven years, her tycoon father has launched a public campaign to marry her off to a man.
Cecil Chao, a Hong Kong shipping magnate and property developer, is offering a HK$500 million ($65 million) marriage bounty to the man who captures Gigi's heart, the South China Morning Post reported Wednesday.
"I don't mind whether he is rich or poor. The important thing is that he is generous and kind-hearted," Cecil was quoted as saying by the Hong Kong daily.
Gigi last week revealed she married long-time partner Sean Eav in France earlier this year. Same-sex marriages are not legally recognized in Hong Kong.
Her father, the 76-year-old owner of Cheuk Nang (Holdings) Ltd., rejected suggestions that Gigi is a lesbian, and described reports she had gotten hitched as "false," the SCMP said.
"Gigi is a very good woman with both talents and looks. She is devoted to her parents, is generous and does volunteer work," he said.
Cecil Chao is hardly one to be giving marriage advice: he is known in Hong Kong as the "playboy tycoon," and once claimed to have bedded 10,000 women. Yikes.
Gigi, who runs a modeling and marketing company and is a director at Cheuk Nang, is his first of three children with different women.
"Cecil, you sound like you're selling your daughter," one commentator wrote on the SCMP website. "Get with the times."
Another comment said: "How humiliating for this poor girl … Mr. Chao needs to come out of denial and just be happy that he has such a beautiful daughter who appears to have found happiness with a partner whom she loves. Congratulations, Gigi!"
More from GlobalPost: Hong Kong hunger strikers take on 'brainwashing' in schools
The story you just read is accessible and free to all because thousands of listeners and readers contribute to our nonprofit newsroom. We go deep to bring you the human-centered international reporting that you know you can trust. To do this work and to do it well, we rely on the support of our listeners. If you appreciated our coverage this year, if there was a story that made you pause or a song that moved you, would you consider making a gift to sustain our work through 2024 and beyond?