Being a celebrity may look like a cushy ride, but Wang Yibo is shining a light on the concerning realities of pop megastardom.
The 22-year-old star broke through to new levels of fame when he was cast opposite Xiao Zhan in the boys’ love drama The Untamed. But now, Wang Yibo has taken to Chinese microblogging platform Weibo to speak candidly on some of the troubles that come with life in the limelight.
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“My work is so tiring, can’t I just sleep a little bit in the car? My staff is standing right in front of your car and yet you still dare to drive forward,” Wang wrote. “For a long time now, I have had strangers knocking on my hotel room door. Someone even placed a location tracker in my car. No matter where I go, there is always someone following me.”
Wang first rose to fame as part of the Chinese-Korean boy band Uniq, but is now dealing with new levels of recognition after the success of The Untamed. His co-star Xiao Zhan has been navigating similar terrain when it comes to the tenacity of his fans — a recent online fanfiction debacle caused Xiao’s fans to mass-report the website AO3, which in turn caused the site’s fans to rise up against Xiao and his fandom.
A week before Wang’s social media post, his management agency put up an announcement of warning for his overly-enthusiastic fans:
“Please do not follow our cars, chase after our cars or follow us onto planes. Do not gather and mob (our artists) in public places like airports, hotels and shooting locations. Do not sell information about schedules, locations and photos of film shoots that are not meant to be released to the public.”
We’ll see if Wang’s fans will respect the wishes of their idol.
