Hundreds of late Coco Lee's outfits reportedly missing from estranged husband's home

It seems like what is missing now is not just the name of Coco Lee's estranged husband in her obituary, but over hundreds of her performance outfits have reportedly disappeared from their house too.

According to a report by Hong Kong publication ST Headline today (July 27), as part of Coco's funeral preparation, her family had gone to Bruce Rockowitz's home in Hong Kong previously to retrieve the outfits that she had left behind. However, they were reportedly told by Rockowitz's staff that he was not in Hong Kong and that none of the singer's belongings were in the house.

Coco's family reportedly pointed out that when Coco moved out of the home two years ago, she did not take any of her performance outfits.

The staff reportedly only returned seven evening dresses, including the iconic red cheongsam by Versace that Coco wore at the Oscar in 2001, after her family demanded that they return the outfits within 48 hours or they would call the police for theft.

The report also wrote that Coco's family intend to retrieve the outfits so that they can choose a white dress — Coco's favourite colour — to be cremated with her. They also intend to commemorate Coco's career by holding an exhibition with her performance outfits at her fans' requests.

Among the seven outfits that were reportedly returned to them, none of them are white.

On July 19, Hong Kong publication Topick wrote that Nancy was spotted with a team of lawyers at North Point Police Station. She declined to comment then when reporters approached her.

Based on reports, the red cheongsam that was retrieved held sentimental value for Coco as she was the first Chinese artist to sing at the Oscars. On March 25, 2001, at the 73rd Academy Awards, Coco donned the red cheongsam and sang the Oscar-nominated theme song A Love Before Time for Ang Lee's blockbuster movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

When she was interviewed at the red carpet then, she had said: "There has not been a successful Asian artist [in Hollywood], hopefully I am able to change that… With time eventually people will learn to accept Asian people singing American songs. It's always tough for the first one, but I believe through time we can do it."

Coco married Rockowitz, a Canadian businessman in a lavish and star-studded two-day wedding ceremony in 2011. She reportedly had in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) nine times over the course of her marriage and there were rumours in recent years that their marriage was on the rocks, which led to her depression.

Coco had never addressed the rumours directly, but on Valentine's Day this year, she released a new song Tragic, which further fuelled speculations of her relationship with Rockowitz.

She wrote in her Weibo post while promoting the song then: "When love has come to this point, there is only one word to describe it: tragic".

Coco died on July 5 at the age of 48. She reportedly came out of her bathroom bleeding profusely from her left wrist on July 2 and was in a coma when she was sent to Queen Mary Hospital for emergency treatment.

After her death, there were reports that she and Rockowitz were actually due to sign divorce papers this month. Coco's obituary, which was published in Hong Kong's newspapers on July 21, also does not have Rockwitz's name.

Coco's memorial service will be livestreamed on Nancy's YouTube channel on July 31 at 4pm. The funeral service will also be livestreamed on the same channel on Aug 1 at 9.30am.

ALSO READ: Coco Lee's funeral: Sister reveals portrait and veteran singer Jenny Tseng among pallbearers

yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com