POOR Kelly Poon. The past week could very well have been the most distressing in her career so far.

First, there were Taiwanese media reports about the local songbird’s apparent intention to quit entertainment and return to being a flight attendant.

Then, it was reported that she was receiving a “meagre” monthly allowance of $500, a big contrast to the $4,000 she was paid when she was employed by Singapore Airlines (SIA).

Now, to add to her spate of woes, a netizen, writing in her tweet, has accused her of being a third party and breaking up a marriage.

The New Paper online team discovered it, after receiving a tip-off from a twitter user who is a follower of that particular netizen’s tweets.

Me? A homewrecker? How could that be?

That was Kelly’s stunned reaction when The New Paper recently asked her about the latest incident.

“I totally have no idea about this. I don’t know her at all,” exclaimed the 26-year-old Project Superstar alumnus in a phone interview from Taipei, where she is currently based.

Lost for words

Kelly sounded at a loss for words when questioned about the post made on 24 Nov.

“It could be that she isn’t referring to me, but a person who happens to share my name.Or maybe she just doesn’t like me.”

She added that she can’t think of people close to her who would dosuch a thing.

She said: “I hope I haven’t made any enemies. But I do know that when someone hates you to the core, it’s hard to predict the extent he or she would go to, in order to hurt you.”

Her Singaporean manager Ms Gillian Tan laughed off the accusation as well. “It’s impossible,” Ms Tan told The New Paper firmly.

“I know all of Kelly’s past relationships, she’s totally not the sort of person that the Twitter user described.”

Kelly, who is currently single, had a boyfriend of three years previously.

It was reported in Lianhe Wanbao that she broke up with him early last year due to work commitments.

There were also rumours that she was dating badminton player Ronald Susilo after he broke up with Li Jiawei, but both parties subsequently denied it.

During our interview with her, Kelly also cleared the air about reports of her claiming she was leaving the entertainment industry.

“Those (rumours) arose primarily because my current contract with my management company is coming to an end soon,” she said.

“I am not quitting entertainment to go back to flying.

“Yes, I love flying, that’s why I’d sometimes blurt out to people that I would like to return to SIA should I leave the music scene. But I’m a singer now. I can’t possibly do two things at one time, can I?”

Missing home

The media might also have painted a picture of Kelly being “ill-treated” and having to live frugally in Taiwan, but this is not the case, she said.

“All my living and food expenses in Taiwan are taken care of by the company. I’m only responsible for that little expenditure I have.”

She is signed to Da Xiong Xing, Taiwan veteran music producer Yao Qian’s artist management company.

Kelly said: “There’s nothing wrong with my allowance – I only spend that little bit of money!”

She added that the only thing she can confirm is that she “does hope to be based in Singapore next year”.

“I really envy my fellow local artistes like Derrick (Hoh) and Jocie (Kok),who are based at home,” she said.

“If I could, I would want to be back in Singapore too. I’ve already made the request to my management. It’s up to them now.

After all, I travel around the region a lot for work, why can’t I use my home as my base?”

– additional reporting by Kwok Kar Peng

This article was first published in The New Paper.