YOUNG, aspiring and a little naive back then, but she wanted to have some fun and, perhaps, a stab at stardom.

When she made it to the list of the top 20 finalists in a beauty pageant in Hong Kong in the 1980s, it was a dream come true.

In an interview with The New Paper, actress Constance Ho said: 'I was like, wow, how did I manage that? I thought I was a little too short.'

But her euphoria was short-lived.

Three days into the intensive training and grooming programme, she was told: Have sex with a bigwig if you want to win one of the top three titles.

Constance - or He Jie, as she is better known here - refused. And 24 hours later, she was kicked out of the pageant for falsely declaring her marital status.

The actress, now in her 40s, said: 'If you did the sums, you'd know it was not a mere coincidence.'

That was not the first indecent proposition she received in Hong Kong.

She recalled: 'I'd gone to cast for a role in a new film but was told I had to strip on the spot. I refused and well, I didn't get the role, of course.'

That too was in the late 1980s.

But bringing back that past for Constance is the recent suicide of Korean actress Jang Ja Yeon, whose death has prompted an investigation into unseemly practices in the country's entertainment industry.

She was found dead in her home on 7Mar. Korean police are now investigating allegations that she was coerced - by her management agency - into having sex with various public figures.

Coerced into sex

Ja Yeon, 30, reportedly left behind a letter that said she was beaten, forced to act as an escort at golf tournaments and coerced into sex with several TV programme directors, CEOs and media executives.

A Bundang Police Station spokesman told The New Paper on Friday: 'Right now, we can only confirm that some names are listed in Jang's letter.'

He declined to provide more details but added that 'the document seems to be authentic'.

'Luckily, my experience was less harrowing,' said Constance, who is currently involved in a new Media-

Corp production, the 180-episode Your Hands In Mine.

It also stars Joanne Peh, Pierre Png and Chen Shucheng.

Constance shared her experience in a column in Lianhe Wanbao in January, shortly after organiser Asia Television admitted that the final outcome of its Miss Asia beauty contest did not match the real tally of public votes. This was after contestants had cried foul, claiming the results were rigged.

Constance said: 'It's sad to note that nothing has changed.'

She recalled how, during the beauty pageant she was involved in, she was told that she and three others had been picked to attend a special dinner.

'We were told not to mention the dinner date to other contestants since not everyone was invited.

'The (organiser's) public relations manager also told us to dress up appropriately, with class. A make-up artist was specially arranged to work on us.'

The dinner was at a luxurious three-storey bungalow, where they were greeted by a group of men. 'They looked familiar because they were high-profile figures who often appeared in news pages,' Constance said.

'After the dinner, the women were each asked to wait in a room. Somehow, I sensed that something was not quite right then.'

The PR manager later told her that 'one of the men was interested in me'.

Constance added: 'She said if I went to bed with him, I'd be among the top three winners. I'd also be assured of a bright future in showbiz.'

An incredulous Constance rejected the offer. She said: 'I was like, how can you expect me to sleep with someone I barely know?

'I was prepared to drop out of the contest. That made the manager angry. She said that joining the pageant indicated I was looking for fame and fortune, and that I'd be stupid not to grab this chance.'

Constance held her ground and she was sent back to her lodging. But the next day, news that she was a divorcee apparently 'leaked out'.

Divorced

She said: 'A reporter asked me to confirm rumours that I was divorced.'

It was a detail that Constance claimed she did not intentionally hide. She was married but divorced after one year.

'In the application form, there was only a choice between single and married. Since I was no longer married, I picked single as my status,' she said.

She claimed she did not know that the contest was for unmarried women and did not think it was an issue since there was a choice between single and married.

When the news broke, Constance was kicked out of the pageant. While the organising TV station later offered her a two-year contract, she felt it was 'more of a cover-up' to stop her from going public.

Constance said she did not speak of it earlier as she had not been bent on winning the contest. 'I'd joined for fun only,' she added.

Eight TV series and three movies later, she quit the Hong Kong scene.

Constance said: 'It's really quite sad that the casting couch is still very much a reality. Yet, how many people really would dare to discuss it? But till this day, I've never regretted not taking up the offer.

'So what if I never made it big there? At least, I kept my pride and self-worth intact.'

This article was first published in The New Paper.