PUBLISHED ONFebruary 11, 2023 1:00 AMByDrima ChakrabortyShowbiz is a stressful place and many star hopefuls may crumble under the pressure, but not Miss Hong Kong 2022 runner-up Cecca Xu.
She made an appearance at a TVB Lunar New Year event on Thursday (Feb 9) amid reports that she was looking to end her contract with the Hong Kong broadcaster.
Cecca was absent from recent big TVB events that Miss Hong Kong winner Denice Lam, second runner-up Joey Leung and Miss Friendship Sharon Yang were all present at, which led to accusations of her not fulfilling her duty with the company and having a poor attitude.
At Thursday's event, the 25-year-old American national dismissed rumours that she wanted to work in China instead of with TVB, telling Hong Kong reporters: "These are not true. Now that I have completed my previous work, I want to be here to focus on fulfilling the pageant obligations and the work that TVB would be giving me."
She explained that she had taken leave from her then-employers to take part in the beauty pageant. She recently went back to the company to complete her unfinished tasks and hand over her work.
When asked about the rumours of her not being unable to handle the stress of showbiz, Cecca replied: "I may not have many strengths but I'm strong at withstanding pressure."
Cecca had clapped back on Instagram last week, responding to a now-deleted comment criticising her: "Haters are not welcome here. If you don't like it, you can back off."
She told reporters about the situation: "It's much better now. I communicated with the company and they also helped me to handle the matter. I don't put much thought into most comments, and I only fought back because of the continuous harassment."
To criticism that she thinks too highly of herself, she responded: "I don't. I put my focus on everything. I believe that a person must carry things through to the end. It's not good if I drop my work without a proper hand-over."
Cecca was also third runner-up in the 22nd Miss Chinese Universe pageant in 2021.
At yesterday's event, Cecca was in high spirits, winning three prizes in a row and posing with fellow celeb Rocky Cheng, as well as hosts Derek Wong and Heidi Chu.
Cecca hasn't been the only Miss Hong Kong 2022 contestant placed under heavy scrutiny.
In September last year, Denice was called a nymphomaniac for revealing intimate details about her sexual history in the show Abracadabra.
"In this era, we don't need to be so secretive; relations between men and women are very common," she responded at the time.
"This has been a valuable lesson, but even so, I'll keep being myself in the future. As long as one is of a virtuous mind, it shouldn't matter what others say."
A sex tape, which was purported to show Denice, was also distributed to the media, but the 28-year-old stated: "One look and you'll know it's not me."
TVB filed a police report on her behalf and Hong Kong media assessed that it was most likely not Denice, but a Japanese AV actress in the video.
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