KUALA LUMPUR(Malaysianinsider), Dec 20 — Actress Nora Danish got married 2½ years ago, and is now eight months’ pregnant. That did not stop her husband from divorcing her in August — amid whispers that his heart had gone astray.
Welcome to the world of Malaysian celebrities.
Although not quite Hollywood or Bollywood in stature, couples seem to be as prone to marital strife and divorce in what could perhaps be called Bolehwood.
And this year seems to be a bumper year for celebrity divorces, as they come under increasing spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
As if in competition with politicians, what celebrities do — mostly splitting from one another — has been grabbing headlines in recent weeks.
Along with their seemingly glamorous lifestyles, these beautiful people are thought to earn a lot of money, as local dramas and TV series have been snapped up by TV stations in Malaysia and Singapore at good prices over the last decade. Malay movies also do well in Malaysian cinemas.
Whenever the Malay Mail tabloid, which has a readership among all races, has an exclusive sensational story on a celebrity, sales rise by 5,000 to 6,000 to about 50,000 copies, says former entertainment editor Zainal Alam Kadir.
One of television's most watched sitcoms, “Puteri” (Princess), is said to hold the dubious record for divorces.
The sitcom is about the life and loves of a girl named Puteri, played by afore-mentioned 26-year-old Nora Danish.
Nora was divorced by her husband Rizal Ashram Ramli, 32, in August. And not for the first time. The couple had divorced previously, but had got back together again.
Rumours are rife that this time round, a hot young actress — labelled the “Queen of Hearts” after supposedly breaking the hearts of a string of men — was behind the break-up.
A senior veteran in the industry says: “Marriage for people who are not in showbiz is hard enough. But celebrities are constantly under the microscope.”
Besides Nora, a prominent actor in the same “Puteri” sitcom has also ended his marriage, the New Straits Times daily reported on Tuesday.
Lead actor Aszerul Nizam Abdullah, 28, who was married to Intan Shahira, 27, shockingly claimed that the couple spent only 10 days together in four months of marriage.
According to rumours, her parents thought he was not good enough for her because she was educated overseas, while he never went to university.
Even the director of “Puteri”, the talented Aziz M. Osman, is going through a divorce.
But none of those splits beats the sheer spectacle of that between two of the biggest names in Bolehwood — Norman Hakim and wife Abby Abadi, 29, who both acted in the hugely popular “Gerak Khas”, or Special Forces, police series.
The good-looking Norman was caught for alleged khalwat, or illicit close proximity, with a young actress, in his office last month.
He is 32, and the woman is a 20-year old unknown actress named Memey Suhaiza.
The two were fully clothed, but it was 3 in the morning and there was no one else around when Islamic court officials knocked on the door.
He denied any wrongdoing, but Norman then stunned his fans by saying that he may be fated to marry Memey.
He and Abby then had a very public row at a “Gerak Khas” shoot — watched by fellow actors, reporters and cameramen.
The couple finally called it quits and got divorced.
They have three children aged five, three, and three months.
At least 10 other celebrities are splitting up with their spouses this year, according to reports.
Celebrities naturally mingle with other so-called beautiful people, said former entertainment editor Zainal.
“That's the danger of getting married to each other,” he said. “New faces keep coming along, and it gets easier and easier.”
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