Earlier today (Feb 3), news of Barbie Hsu’s sudden passing sent shockwaves across showbiz.
The death of the actress, who was 48, was confirmed by her sister Dee Hsu, 46, through the latter’s manager.
In her statement, Dee shared that Barbie passed away from influenza-associated pneumonia during their family trip to Japan over the Chinese New Year period.
Barbie’s husband South Korean singer DJ Koo, 55, subsequently also verified with South Korean media The Daily Sports that Barbie’s passing is “not fake news” and that he was “not coping very well”.
Barbie and DJ Koo got married in 2022. Prior to that, she was married for 10 years to Chinese entrepreneur Wang Xiaofei, with whom she has two kids — daughter Wang Hsi-yueh, 10, and son Wang Hsi-lin, nine.
According to reports, the actress will be cremated in Japan and her ashes will be brought back to Taiwan for burial.
Before Barbie’s passing became public news, Xiaofei, who was presumably aware of the situation, switched his Weibo profile picture to a black image.
However, Xiaofei has since changed his profile picture back to a photo of him with his son.
Many of Barbie’s celeb pals, such as Jacky Wu, Blackie Chen, Christine Fan, Lin Chi-ling, and former Meteor Garden co-star Ken Chu, have since taken to their socials to pay tribute to the star.