'I think this is a personal vendetta': Joshua Ang on estranged wife's public allegations

The shocking announcement by former actor Joshua Ang about his impending divorce, and the public allegations from his estranged wife Shannon Low, have caused a media storm the past couple of days.

However, while Low levelled some serious accusations against Joshua on Instagram, the latter has not publicly engaged on social media, apart from saying her claims are false and that he has taken legal action against her.

Speaking to AsiaOne yesterday (Dec 17), the 31-year-old reiterated that her claims are untrue. 

He said: "I think this is a personal vendetta between her and myself. If you realised, I have posted nothing negative about her. Nobody is perfect but I don't go and post s*** about her. I don't say how she behaved. Things happened between us as well, she did things to me but I never posted anything about her."

When asked to clarify what the "things" that Low had done to him were, Joshua declined and said he doesn't want to.

"This is not about revenge. I don't need revenge on her. My son is going to grow up and my son is going to see all these kinds of things. I don't need all the negative things about his mother to be shown to the public," he explained firmly.

Joshua said that Low's claims were nothing new as she had already made them when she applied for a Personal Protection Order (PPO) against him earlier this year, but he thought the split was meant to be amicable so he didn't expect Low to go public with it. The application for the PPO was turned down. 

When asked why he decided to first publicly announce that he was going to divorce Low, he replied that "it was only a matter of time" until they announced it.

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As for the post with the words "Happy Divorce", Joshua explained: "I understand that it may have upset some netizens and Shannon. For that I will apologise; but I have never intended it to be that way, to be sarcastic. It was never meant to be a sarcastic post."

Joshua shared the statement of evidence from the PPO application with Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao, but declined to share it with us. He explained that his lawyer advised against it after learning that he had previously sent it to the media.

However, he provided more details about Low's claims against him in the PPO application — including allegations that he was irresponsible, violent when playing with their son Jed, and that he swung him around too hard.

"Has my son ever been injured because of me swinging him too hard? It's just a normal father and son playing. She said I'm irresponsible. How am I irresponsible when I was the one taking care of my kid? I have text [messages] to substantiate which the judge agreed with me," he claimed.

'I was the one taking care of my kid'

In the past, they would send their kid to school together and Joshua said he was "always the one picking him up". He added: "When she started her business [last] December, she worked quite late into the night. During that period of time, from December until probably March, I was the one putting him to bed when she went out with her friends. She needs her space, I respect that. I was the one actually taking care of my kid."

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Joshua said that it is also unfair for Low to label him as an irresponsible father when he has not been able to see Jed for more than 190 days.

He said: "I'm fighting [for] an Access Order just to see my kid for one day per week. One day. And she calls me irresponsible? I want to do my part as a father, she doesn't allow me to, then she calls me irresponsible. Is it fair to me? It's not fair to me."

Joshua claimed that he was gradually denied access to Jed after he left their home on June 2 when the couple agreed to take some time apart.

"When I left home on June 2, it was okay for the first week... Slowly after a week or two, I tried to see my son and she turned to video calls at first. Then when things got heated up, she didn't want to talk to me. She didn't even let me video call my son. Then she decided that she doesn't want me to see my son."

Policemen were actually around

On Aug 15, when Joshua returned home to "recover his belongings", there were actually four policemen present, he said. This was the incident Low referenced when she claimed that he "looted" the house.

"Two policemen were to assist me in going in. She (Low) was not cooperative. She did not give the PIN [code] to me. The police told me, 'She didn't want to give you the password, no choice, you've got to engage a locksmith to go in'," he recounted.

After the door was opened, another two policemen joined him to "oversee me recover my belongings".

He said: "They (the policemen) were there. Shannon's mother was there. Shannon came back after, and nothing was removed from the house until the police verified with Shannon if any of the items were hers. Then she said, 'No. All these items are his. He can take.' That was exactly what happened and I have the police case number.

"And she let everybody know that I looted the house. How is it fair to me? It tarnishes my reputation. It makes me seem like what, I'm a burglar? I stole her stuff?"

Denied access to the utility bills

As for the other claim that he had cut off payment for the electricity, Joshua explained that it was because Low "changed the PIN [code] to my mailbox" and he couldn't get hold of his bills as "she didn't want to give me access". Joshua pointed out that Low didn't explain all these when she made the claim against him on Instagram.

The former child actor, who has been receiving threats against him, said that there are two sides to a story and so far, it's only Low's side that the public is aware of.

He commented: "This is the thing about humans. Whoever has the loudest voice will become the leader of the group. At the moment, she has the loudest voice."

He also added: "The reason I'm keeping silent is not because I'm weak. I don't want my son to grow up and see all these kinds of things. These are private matters. If I talk s*** about my wife, my son grows up and sees it, what kind of picture does it paint? I want to protect my son. At the end of the day, she's still the mother to my child. I don't want to fight, I want to stop already."

bryanlim@asiaone.com