Gigi Chao (Photo : YouTube)
Although a U.N. report in May said that 75 percent of employed LGBTIs in China the agency surveyed are still in the closet, it is not the case for the daughter of a Hong Kong billionaire who has been very open and vocal about her being a lesbian.
Because Gigi Chao, daughter of property developer and shipping magnate Cecil Chao Sze-tsung, does not hide that she is a lesbian, in September 2012, the father offered HK$500 million to any Chinese man who would marry Gigi who actually had a female partner for nine years, Sean Eav.
His offer attracted 20,000 men, but no one succeeded in convincing the rich man’s daughter to marry a man, so Cecil Chao doubled the amount to HK$1 billion. On Saturday, ABPLive reported that the billionaire further increased the dowry offer to HK$1.4 billion, or US$180 million.
However, 34-year-old Gigi wants her father to accept her gender preference and hope he would stop changing her sexual orientation as well as pushing her into marrying a man.
Although Cecil Chao believes he could still convince Gigi to change her sexual orientation, he also compromised and told a Malaysian magazine that he does not want to meddle with his daughter’s private life. The billionaire is still hoping she would have a good marriage and bear children who would one day inherit his billions.
Gigi, in turn, wrote him a letter which two Hong Kong newspapers printed in 2012. She asked for his forgiveness in making him think she opted to be a lesbian due to the shortage of good, suitable men in Hong Kong. She wrote, “There are plenty of good men, they are just not for me.”
In 2015, a Philippine broadcast station made a soap opera inspired by Gigi. The drama was titled “The Rich Man’s Daughter.”
