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"Rich and bad girl" Josie Ho reveals her inheritance exceeds 10 billion: Why is she the favorite of the gambling king even though she is unorthodox?

2024-08-22

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Recently, when the 50-year-old actress Josie Ho was interviewed, she suddenly talked about the inheritance arrangements after her father's death. When asked by the host, she said directly: I don't have 20 billion, which is far less than my sister and brother...

Despite this, she has a very good attitude and said frankly, "I haven't made much contribution to the family business, so I have a balanced mentality."

Indeed, as the favorite daughter of gambling king Stanley Ho in the eyes of the outside world, Josie Ho has taken a path that is completely opposite to that of upper-class socialites.

Not only that, she has also been rebellious and broken tradition by filming large-scale scenes. When she was young, she even revealed that she changed her boyfriend every year, which made the outside world call it "unexpected."

Until she met the male artist Chen Zicong, who was known as the "Hong Kong version of Kimura", the two began a high-profile relationship between people from different social classes, and then successfully entered into marriage, which has continued to this day, 20 years later.

But few people know that this move by Josie Ho was extremely risky - after all, as a daughter with a family mission, she not only entered the entertainment industry despite her parents' opposition, but also refused to marry into a wealthy family. She is considered a benchmark figure in the celebrity circle.

So now, 20 years later, has the rebellious Josie Ho gotten everything she wanted?

1. The favorite daughter of the "gambling king"

In 1974, Josie Ho was born in the family of the "King of Gambling". She was the fourth daughter of his second wife, Lucina Laam. Before that, she had already given birth to three daughters, Pansy Ho, Angela Ho, and Pansy Ho. Three years later, she gave birth to her only son, Lawrence Ho.

In addition to his mother, Lucina Laam, his father also had a first wife, Lucina Lai, who also gave birth to several children, namely Angela Ho, Pantyhose Ho, Yau-Kwong Ho and Pantyhose Ho.

But among all these children, Josie Ho is the most loved by her father.

This may be due not only to his own reasons, but also to his mother, Lucina Laam.

Lan Qiongying's original family is quite similar to that of Stanley Ho, both of them were "born into a wealthy family but suffered from family decline."

She is a typical "general's daughter". She has lived a life of luxury since childhood and was well brought up by her parents. She is proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting. Therefore, both her temperament and trump cards are much better than those of the third wife, Chen Wanzhen, and the fourth wife, Liang Anqi.

However, due to the bad social environment at that time, Lan Qiongying's family fell into poverty and she gradually had to work outside to support her family.

However, she was strong-willed by nature and was determined to change her fate by making friends with celebrities, so she met Stanley Ho at a cocktail party.

At that time, Lan Qiongying was only 14 years old, but her ladylike temperament made the future "King of Gambling" fall in love with her at first sight. After that, she entered the industry smoothly, but was never recognized.

For 10 years, she remained unknown to the outside world.

But as time went on, Stanley Ho gradually began to bring his second wife to various social occasions - this also laid the foundation for her to fight for interests for her children in the future.

And Lan Qiongying was indeed very capable. Later, her eldest daughter, He Chaoqiong, became the recognized "new generation leader".

However, gaining something means losing something else. As a result, Josie Ho had no choice but to give up her beloved Danny Chan and reluctantly married the rich boy Julian Hui, but they also ended up in divorce.

Perhaps it was because she had lived in this "shadow" since childhood that her younger sister Josie Ho made different choices in life.

After she grew up and entered the industry, she revealed that she was not happy as a child because of the huge age gap between her and her three sisters and her younger brother was unwilling to play with her, so she was extremely lonely.

Despite her prominent status, Josie Ho was not welcomed in kindergarten and was even bullied in public. She attributed everything to the "innate package".

So she seems very different in the "King of Gambling" family.

At the age of 13, Josie Ho was determined to become an artist, so she did not learn etiquette from her sisters. Her favorite thing was to sing alone in the bathroom.

She felt that the world of the rich was too boring, and instead liked to follow her elder sister Pansy Ho, who was 12 years older than her, to attend various parties in the entertainment industry.

Perhaps it was this unique personality that particularly surprised her father, Stanley Ho. He liked his daughter's spirit of pursuing independence and freedom, and felt that she was similar to himself when he was young.

Therefore, the outside world labels Josie Ho as the "Emperor's daughter", meaning that this girl can get whatever she wants and is deeply loved by her father.

But even so, Josie Ho seemed unsatisfied and became more and more rebellious.

2. The earliest “resource guy” in Hong Kong circle?

In 1988, she wanted to study abroad because she longed for freedom, and was immediately arranged to attend Canada's top Ridley High School.

Here, Josie Ho experienced poverty for the first time, and even had to work part-time to make a living.

However, because she was no longer bound by family, the 14-year-old girl experienced her sweet first love at school, and the other party was pursued by her.

Long after she entered the industry, she talked about this experience without hiding anything, but openly said: "I have had my first kiss and everything, and I am very satisfied."

However, this relationship naturally ended when Josie Ho graduated from high school and returned to China.

According to her own disclosure, after that she basically changed her boyfriend every year and her love life was full of life.

In addition, she did not continue her studies, but instead proposed to enter the entertainment industry, but was strongly opposed by her mother, and even her eldest sister Pansy Ho did not support her.

But at this time, it was her father's support that allowed Josie Ho to fulfill her wish.

Stanley Ho said: "Joey's passion for show business is exactly the same as my passion for business. She is most like me."

So in 1992, with the recommendation of Jackie Chan, she signed a contract with Rock Records and immediately became a "disciple" of Li Zongsheng, receiving two years of training.

As a result, Josie Ho became the only one among the gambling king's 17 children who did not go to college and was ridiculed by the public.

In 1994, she officially debuted as a singer, but despite being a "proud girl of heaven", her development was not smooth.

Famous bigwigs such as Leehom Wang and Natalie Chan who signed contracts with her successively did not put more effort into developing her, so Josie Ho did not get the opportunity to release an album in the next five years.

In the eyes of the audience, she is also a representative figure of "relying on daddy", so when the media reports on her, they always add the prefix "the gambling king's daughter", which once made Josie Ho very dissatisfied.

In addition, the Hong Kong and Taiwan circles were dominated by "jade girls" at the time, but the alternative Josie Ho preferred niche rock and jazz, which resulted in her having no market.

During this period, Josie Ho was very unhappy. In addition to her career setbacks, her mother began to persuade her to return to Canada to study, and admitted that her own educational methods were wrong, which resulted in her daughter's personality being unsuitable for the entertainment industry where the law of the jungle prevails.

However, she was extremely persistent and had no intention of wavering or giving up, even though in the eyes of the outside world, she was just a "rich girl who came here for fun."

In fact, looking back at his work in acting today, he should be underestimated.

As her singing career was not recognized by the public, Josie Ho turned to the film and television industry. In 1995, she starred in "Days Without Husband" and transformed herself into an actress.

After that, she received many acting offers and never set limits for herself, taking the niche route:

She has played roles ranging from mistress to gangster girl, prostitute, lesbian, and even a tai maniac, and has also performed many large-scale scenes...

Therefore, Josie Ho was labeled as the "most rebellious socialite" by the outside world.

But few people have really counted the number of times she has been nominated for the Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Horse Awards and the Hong Kong Film Awards since 1999, and has won the "Best Actress" crown several times.

Although there are still many doubts from the outside world, perhaps it is no longer so important to Josie Ho.

In 2003, she won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the Academy Awards for her role in "Passion", and the organizers specially invited Stanley Ho as the award presenter.

The "King of Gambling" joked with a smile: "It would be a surprise if my daughter won the award."

When the envelope was opened, it was indeed her, and the award speech at the Academy Awards was: "This is what Josie Ho earned through hard work" - indirectly proving her true strength.

3. The elegant life of a “rich girl”

In the same year when she won the award, Josie Ho married her boyfriend of one year, Alex Fong, in a high-profile ceremony.

The man is two years older than her and has a distinguished family background. His mother is the daughter of Taiping Group and his father is a famous local accountant. However, compared with the family of the "King of Gambling", their wealth is not equal.

Chen Zicong lived in Australia since he was a child. He returned to Hong Kong, China at the age of 20 to develop his career. Because he looked like Japanese superstar Takuya Kimura, he successfully entered the modeling circle and transformed into an actor a few years later.

In 1998, he began to attract attention in the industry for playing a small role in the film "Kill Kill, Dance Dance" directed and acted by Donnie Yen.

The following year, Chan Chi Chung met Josie Ho at a private skiing party organized by a rich second-generation.

Because he had lived abroad for a long time and had superb skiing skills, it was no surprise that he attracted the rebellious "Emperor's daughter".

As they communicated more deeply, they gradually discovered that they were very similar - both grew up in wealthy families, but lacked love since childhood, were unruly, and did not want to fight for the family property as their life goal...

However, they did not fall in love immediately. The man's reason was simple: she was the daughter of the gambling king, so he did not dare to pursue her easily.

Josie Ho also had her own troubles - it was reported that in 2000, her father had proposed that she arrange a marriage, but was rejected outright.

During this period, her relationship with Chen Zicong became closer and closer.

As their relationship deepened, the man gradually discovered the "pitiable side" of Josie Ho: "She had nothing but money, so he put aside his background to pursue her."

Finally, the two established a romantic relationship in 2002 and got married the following year.

In order to marry Josie Ho, the man's family spent tens of millions of dollars to hold two banquets in Australia and Hong Kong, China to entertain guests.

The gambling king also presented a luxurious villa and a dowry of more than 200 million yuan, and at the same time said to his son-in-law in a joking tone at the wedding:

"You are marrying my daughter Chaoyi today. From now on, you must remember the Three Obediences and Four Virtues!"

Everyone thought that after getting married, Josie Ho would return to the ranks of "rich ladies" and go home to cook.

However, she released another lesbian film "Butterfly" the year after her marriage, but due to the subject matter, it only received good reviews.

A few years later, Josie Ho's acting career still seemed lukewarm because it was "too niche".

In 2005, Alex Fong formed a band called Alive with Daniel Wu, Anthony Wong and others, but it ultimately failed to make any splash.

Three years later, the couple changed their strategy: they invested 100 million yuan to set up a film production company.

Soon after, the actress was nominated for the Best Actress at the Academy Awards for her "pioneering work" "Victoria One", and also won the "Best Actress" trophy at the Spanish International Film Awards.

This is also a restricted work, but the social issues it reflects are profound and popular.

But what the media and the public are more concerned about is still Josie Ho's marriage. Everyone says that her husband, Alex Fong, "married well", and they always want to see the excitement of the "rich and bad girl".

At that time, the two of them often appeared on the hot list with titles such as "quarreling in the street" and "man embraces woman". Josie Ho's approach was to attack head-on and directly say:

"Ladies who are after my husband, please take note: Stop trying to smack a louse on a tiger's head!"

In 2016, Chen Zicong suffered from cirrhosis of the liver and proctitis, which caused him to lose weight drastically. His appearance also declined for a time, and he lost the charm of the "Hong Kong version of Kimura".

However, the relationship between the couple seems to be getting closer. Josie Ho also mentioned when she received the "Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hawaii Film Festival":

"Thanks to my husband, without him, I would not be able to do anything..."

Now, as she jokes about the family property that was allocated to her on the show, Josie Ho seems even more calm.

As the "rich and bad girl" that the outside world constantly emphasizes, although there is nothing to learn from her life model, she looks so carefree and happy that one can't help but sigh: This heroine is so cool!