Influencer Rachel Wong suing woman who called her 'cheater of 2020' - here's the tea on their legal battle

If you don't know by now, Rachel Wong, 27, is currently engaged in a legal battle with a certain Olivia Wu after the latter accused the influencer of cheating on her ex-husband. 

Just recently, Olivia's application to access Rachel's correspondence and diary entries to support her claims was approved, reported The Straits Times. 

Curious to know how it all started? Here's a recap of the drama, which began brewing in 2020.

'Cheater of 2020' 

Back in December 2020, Olivia uploaded a series of Instagram Stories captioned "Cheater of 2020", suggesting that Rachel Wong had been unfaithful to her former partner, professional footballer Anders Aplin, 30.  

It's not clear how Olivia is related to either Rachel or Anders. 

Rachel claimed that the Instagram Stories had damaged her reputation, standing and esteem, so she decided to take Olivia to court for defamation.

“This was particularly damaging as the plaintiff was a full-time social media influencer who was largely dependent on her social media reputation, optics and image in order to attract and obtain business deals on partnerships… from which she relies to earn her living,” State Courts deputy registrar, Lewis Tan said back in February. 

Rachel and Anders: From campus couple to ex-lovers

Before the whole saga, Rachel and Anders first met in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) where they were both in the same faculty, Nanyang Business School, Rachel shared in an interview with Singapore Brides. 

While they had known of each other's existence through the faculty's freshman orientation camp, they never had the opportunity to get to know each other. 

That was, until, they both signed up for the school's scuba diving club, which arranged for a diving trip to Tioman so that the students could get their diving license. 

There, Rachel and Anders bonded. After the trip, they remained in contact and a few months later, they began dating. 

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Eventually, Anders proposed to Rachel, working with her friends and agency to surprise her at what she thought was a photoshoot for a client.

In the January 2020 interview with the wedding platform, Rachel said of their relationship, "I guess it's true that opposites attract! I was already so rigid, sceptical, and timid. I didn't need someone who's even more of what I already am. I needed someone to show me the world, and to show me what I didn't know I was capable of!"

She added that she admired him for chasing his football dreams: "He was my source of strength and inspiration from the first day, and that gave me the courage to explore, to find my passion, and to give what I love a shot too. That's how I went into acting."

The pair had a gorgeous beach wedding at Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa's Diamond Site in December 2020. 

But they did not get their happily ever after — just four months after the wedding, in April 2020, Rachel and Anders applied to annul their marriage. In March 2021, the marriage was legally annulled.

Who are the other people involved in the saga?

In her attempt to back up her claims of Rachel's infidelity, Olivia has requested access to her correspondence with two men. 

The first is Rachel's gym trainer, a man surnamed Han. The second is the emcee at Rachel's wedding, a man who was also only identified by his last name, Wan. 

Olivia has also asked for access to Rachel's diary entries pertaining to Wan. 

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In response to the requests, Rachel's lawyer, Clarence Lun, described the entire thing as a "fishing expedition", claiming it is an attempt to infringe on Rachel's privacy. 

However, the deputy registrar ruled that the documents Olivia sought were "plainly relevant" and would "adversely affect or support either the plaintiff’s or the defendant’s case". 

As it stands, the discovery order includes all correspondence exchanged between Rachel and Han from June 2016 to June 2020, all correspondence exchanged between her and Wan from June 2018 to June 2020 and her diary entries about Wan from June 2018 to June 2020. 

Through her lawyer, Rachel expressed that she was "disappointed" with the decision. She is reportedly appealing to the High Court to block Olivia's access to the documents. 

melissateo@asiaone.com