18-year-old Chinese actress Huang Yangdiantian, who rose to fame through her role in "Wu Fu Lin Men," was embroiled in a major controversy last year after allegedly wearing luxury earrings valued at 2.3 million RMB (around 1.33 million MYR). This led to accusations of corruption against her father, who has served as a civil servant. Recently, she publicly addressed the incident for the first time, tearing up as she said, "Why did I only grow up at 18," and expressed her sadness over not being able to protect her family.
Huang Yangdiantian revealed that the controversy started during her last pep rally in her senior year of high school. The school had requested students to wear formal dresses, so she and her roommates happily dressed up in the dormitory. To match her green long dress, she casually chose a pair of nice earrings from home, unaware that they were counterfeit designer items. She only realized there was a problem after comparison photos appeared online and rumors about her wealthy family background began to circulate. She blamed herself, saying, "An actor’s behavior is always under scrutiny; I wasn’t careful and responsible enough at the time."
The incident exploded 15 days before Huang Yangdiantian’s college entrance exams. She admitted that when she learned of the scale of the situation, she couldn’t stop trembling and found it unbelievable: "Because it was obviously something so fake, and I just felt helpless—not being able to protect my family." She found it incredible that the controversy had become entangled with accusations of corruption related to an earthquake and loss of life. Her heart ached even more knowing her parents chose to keep things from her in order to protect her, and her brother was bullied at school due to the incident, which left her feeling extremely guilty and powerless.
Huang Yangdiantian stated that public opinion didn’t subside with her clarifications—instead, she endured a prolonged period of devastating online abuse. She was relentlessly targeted with maliciously edited photos, accused of being a "bloodthirsty criminal," and faced a flood of AI-generated pornographic videos. She revealed she received countless hateful private messages while filming, and even a random photo taken with her phone was twisted by netizens as an act of "provocation." She said wryly that when she saw all these vicious insults and compared them to the "earring girl" label, the latter didn’t feel so bad anymore. She could only keep comforting herself and rely on optimism to influence the concerned elders and family members around her.
Although the official investigation eventually cleared her name, the damage had already been done. Huang Yangdiantian sighed, "Defending one’s rights is very difficult, but spreading rumors is very easy." She still receives harassing calls and texts to this day, and life has yet to fully return to normal. She mentioned that even though she knows the rumors are false, "when enough people say it, you might even start doubting yourself." This kind of inner turmoil became the most profound and heavy coming-of-age experience of her eighteenth year.
Speaking about the meaning of adulthood, Huang Yangdiantian couldn’t help but cry on camera, honestly stating: "Why did I only grow up at 18? I feel like 18 came a little too late for me." In her mind, adults are supposed to be tall, strong, and independent—able to withstand any force—yet she felt she wasn’t able to protect her family at that time.
Source: ETtoday Starlight Cloud