CHINESE actress Vicky Zhao seems to be embroiled in a messy love triangle.

In July, there was talk that the 33-year-old actress got hitched to a Singaporean businessman.

According to Hong Kong’s Next Magazine, she was indeed married here in August, but her husband is not Singaporean.

He was identified as Mr Huang Youlong, a 30-year-old real estate magnate from China.

But that’s not all.

He dumped his fiancee – actress Tracy Ip, a Miss Hong Kong 2005 winner – to marry Vicky, according to the magazine.

Ironically, it was Tracy, 28, who reportedly introduced Vicki to Mr Huang.

When asked about her marriage, Vicky admitted she had found a life partner, but refused to comment further.

However, her management told the Hong Kong media: “These are just rumours and we won’t respond, no matter what others say.”

Vicki had her breakout role in the drama series Princess Pearl and its sequel.

She’s best known for her roles in movies such as Painted Skin, So Close, Red Cliff and Red Cliff II.

She’s currently promoting her latest film Mulan.

Vicki has been romantically linked with Chinese actor Chen Kun, Hong Kong actor-director Stephen Chow and Chinese table tennis player Wang Liqin.

Mr Huang had more humble beginnings, Next reported.

His parents were farmers and he gained his wealth through his success in Beijing’s real estate business.

He has never been married before, although there are reports on Chinese websites that he has an 8-year-old son.

Several years ago, Mr Huang also dated celebrity sportswoman Pan Xiaoting – nicknamed China’s queen of the pool table – but they broke up within a year because he reportedly went after another woman.

Whirlwind romance

During his one-year whirlwind courtship of Vicky, sources told Next, Mr Huang lavished expensive gifts on her, including crocodile skin Hermes handbags, Richard Mille diamond watches and a Vertu handphone encased with diamonds.

Mr Huang’s romance with Tracy was just as impulsive and chaotic.

The pair met in April last year when he invited her to film an ad for his hotel business.

The ad was never aired.

Within a month, Mr Huang had taken Tracy home to meet his parents, and speedily proposed to her with a four-carat diamond ring, Next reported.

Tracy said yes and the pair got engaged.

But Tracy,who has acted in dramas such as Heart Of Greed and Beyond The Realm Of Conscience, had to postpone marriage plans to host the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

But as the games drew to a close in August last year, so did her romance with Mr Huang.

It was around that time that Tracy introduced Mr Huang to Vicky in a pub, and the duo hit it off almost instantly, the magazine said.

Photographs taken of Vicky dining with Mr Huang after promoting the movie Painted Skin in September last year appeared online.

She was spotted entering a KTV outlet with Mr Huang and staying there till the next morning, it was reported on Chinese websites.

Of late, Mr Huang has been spending a lot of time in France, and Vicky reportedly took time off to keep him company there after attending the Cannes film festival in May this year, Next said.

Apart from losing her fiance, Tracy is reportedly going to lose her wealth.

With capital provided by Mr Huang, Tracy had made 10 million yuan ($2m) in China’s property market, but Mr Huang now wants the profits, reported Shin Min Daily News.

When queried about her misfortune, Tracy told the Hong Kong media: “I don’t want to talk about unhappy things in the past.”

But she did admit that she and Mr Huang are no longer an item.

A Hong Kong reporter asked her whether she harbours any ill will towards her old friend Vicki. “It’s okay since I’m happy now. When we just broke up, it was very stressful. But it’s over, and I don’t want to talk about it now,” said Tracy.

She seemed surprised when told of reports that Mr Huang and Vicky had got married. She said: “Please help me congratulate them.”

This article was first published in The New Paper.