Hong Kong - Singer-actress Gillian Chung said it was love at first sight when she met actor Edison Chen, who eventually landed her in a sex photo scandal last year.

They met through a friend before her pop career began in 2000 and were together 'on and off for four to five years', she admitted on TVB talk show Be My Guest.

Her Twins singing partner, Charlene Choi, had warned her that he was a bad guy but she did not listen, she said.

The revelations about her secret relationship with the actor came from her interview with TVB general manager Stephen Chan, which aired last Saturday.

After a year out of the spotlight, she did the interview last Thursday at the Repulse Bay mansion of her Emperor Entertainment Group boss Albert Yeung, as part of a comeback bid.

She will face the media tomorrow, at a press conference for fashion chain Bauhaus' Tough Jeansmith. She said she would focus on fashion and film for now, and there were no plans yet for her to sing.

When asked if Chen, 28, was the one she had dated for the longest time, Chung, also 28, said he was the one she 'liked most'.

She said of their on-off romance: 'Usually, when I was with him, there was no one else because he had a profound influence on me... When I was with him, it was hard for me to commit to another relationship.'

She added that he would sweet-talk her, for example, over SMS. 'Even one message and I would be so happy.'

At the host's prompting, she said she agreed to have the sex photos taken as she did not want to lose him. She asked him why he wanted to take the photos and he said they were for his own viewing pleasure.

But she was worried even before the photos were taken, she added.

'I could not stop asking him, will you be careful about keeping them? How will you do it? He said, 'Relax, I am going to be in the photos too, so nobody is going to see them.' '

After the photos - including those of celebrities such as actress Cecilia Cheung - were released on the Internet last year, Chung was the first victim to make a public statement.

Seemingly composed and smiling, she said she had been 'very naive and very silly', words which were criticised and ridiculed.

Some said her response was in contrast to her tearful reaction to being secretly photographed while changing her clothes in Genting Highlands.

'I was angry. I felt that I had been raped,' she said of the Malaysia photos.

As for the sex photos, 'it was unfortunate they were leaked. There is a big difference between voluntary and invo- luntary actions'.

She also explained what she had meant by her 'very naive and very silly' remark.

'When two people are dating, who hasn't been naive and silly? Love pulls the wool over a person's eyes. I definitely didn't say I was naive and silly because of the photos I had taken.'

She said she thought of killing herself and quitting showbiz. But she chose to continue for her family.

'I am in this business for my family. I want to give them a better life. So I don't want to give up just like that,' she said, referring to her sister, mother and grandparents.

She noted that as one half of the girl group Twins, 'our market was children'. But she said neither she nor her management had planned her girl- next-door image, which was shattered by the scandal last year.

The scandal 'was so long ago and all I hope is that people can at least give me some dignity', she said.

Preview clips of the interview were aired on TVB last Thursday night and there were 215 complaints against her lodged with the Broadcasting Authority. According to Apple Daily, TVB received 69 complaints and 80 supportive messages.

Computer technician Sze Ho Chun is to be tried in April for his alleged role in leaking the photos.

There was a plan to ask four of the women involved in the scandal to testify but his defence lawyer has withdrawn the application, said the South China Morning Post.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.