Wang Leehom accuses estranged wife Lee Jinglei of breaking custody agreement, takes her to court

Wang Leehom accuses estranged wife Lee Jinglei of breaking custody agreement, takes her to court

• Wang submitted 11 documents of evidence against Lee that said she violated their custody agreement
• The divorce saga between Wang and Lee has been one of the most high-profile celebrity dramas of the past year

Embattled Taiwanese-American celebrity Wang Leehom, 45, is taking his estranged wife to court for breaking the couple’s custody agreement.

Mainland news portal 163.com got its hands on documents from the New York County Supreme Court in the US that showed Wang, one of the most famous men in the Chinese speaking world, submitted 11 pieces of evidence against Lee Jinglei. Lee, 33, has yet to file evidence for her rebuttal.

If Wang wins the case, Lee could face a fine and up to six months in prison, although divorce disputes in the US rarely result in one party going to jail.

It is unclear what triggered the custody case.

The court case is the latest development in the saga of one of the most high-profile divorces in Asia in recent memory.

In mid-December last year, Wang confirmed on Weibo that the couple had filed for a divorce. Days later, Lee published a lengthy social media post accusing Wang of having extramarital affairs and hiring sex workers.

Last month, Lee said on Weibo that Wang had brought a group of men to their home in Taipei to visit his three children under Lee’s care. Lee said she did not let Wang in as she feared for her own safety and that of her children.

She said Wang should not have been accompanied by the three men. Lee said the trio included two employees from Wang’s company and a man she had never met before.

Lee accused Wang of breaking their custody agreement, which she said stated that if either of them wanted to bring someone outside the family to visit the children, they must seek approval from the other party.

Lee later sent her butler to report the case to Taipei police. She said she did not want the police to investigate but hoped the dossier at the police station could be used as evidence if there were any future divorce battles.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.