In March 2010, Singapore's most successful filmmaker Jack Neo admitted to a two-year affair with 22-year-old freelance model Wendy Chong, triggering a media frenzy, claims involving up to 11 women, and the loss of major endorsement deals.
The scandal broke when Chong, who had played a bit role as a nurse in Neo's 2008 hit Money No Enough 2, went to the Chinese press and then showed up at Neo's Pasir Ris home demanding to speak to his wife. The 22-year-old said the 50-year-old director had initiated the relationship after approaching her on set, and described overseas trips together to Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. She claimed that when she threatened to expose the affair after he tried to end it, events spiralled into the open.
Neo admitted to the affair, saying he had been unable to end it because Chong had threatened to harm herself, and that he feared his wife could not forgive him. Days later, further reports alleged he had pursued or attempted affairs with as many as 11 women, including actress-host Foyce Le Xuan, who claimed he had made sexual advances toward her while they worked together. Le Xuan later apologised in a 2013 interview, saying she had underestimated how damaging her accusations could be.
On March 11, Neo and his wife Irene Kng, whom he married in 1990, held a five-minute press conference before a wall of cameras. Looking dishevelled, Neo admitted his mistake and pleaded with the media to let him off, while Kng publicly forgave him. The fallout was swift: Mitsubishi Electric Asia dropped him as an endorser and pulled his television advertisements, with Bee Cheng Hiang and Goh Joo Hin following suit after a brief wait-and-see period.
At the time the saga dominated coffee-shop talk for weeks and became a national morality debate about celebrity, fidelity and forgiveness. Remarkably, Neo rebuilt his career, going on to direct the blockbuster Ah Boys to Men franchise that cemented his commercial dominance. Sixteen years after the scandal, he received the Singapore Film Society's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2026, completing one of the most dramatic reputation rehabilitations in local entertainment history.
The scandal also left a mark on Singapore's advertising industry, which grew noticeably more cautious about celebrity endorsements in its aftermath. Media scholars still cite the saga as the moment local entertainment reporting turned fully tabloid, with the Chinese press, English dailies and online forums competing for every twist. Neo himself rarely addresses the episode now, preferring to let his box-office record, which includes some of the highest-grossing local films of all time, do the talking.