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| Chao |
The Hong Kong billionaire playboy who offered nearly £40 million to any man who could turn his homosexual daughter straight, has revealed the luxury lifestyle which any suitor could expect should he win her hand.
Cecil Chao sparked global
controversy when, refusing to accept his daughter Gigi's civil union to her
lesbian partner of eight years, he offered 500 million Hong kong dollars to the
man who could convince her to marry him.
He now appears to have changed his
stance slightly saying that she can choose whatever she wants.
But he still seems to be ignoring
Gigi's woos with Sean Yeung, offering a 'moderately deluxe lifestyle' to anyone
who successfully pursues his daughter.
And the 76-year-old billionaire gave
a glimpse of just what he means when by 'moderately deluxe' as he welcomed a
reporter from the Financial Times into his Happy Lodge home on the western
shore of Hong Kong.
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| Gigi |
The lavish house has a staggering floorspace of some 16,000 square feet spread out over four luxurious floors.
The living room has a circular glass
wall affording incredible views of the bay outside, a grand piano and a pair of
pricey modernist sculptures by Angel Botello.
A garish custom-made double
chandelier hangs from the ceiling in the centre of the room.
European antique furniture adorns
the rooms in contrast to Buddhist ornaments and Chinese lacquerware.
Mr Chao, who was born in relative
poverty in Shanghai, ranks a painting of cherry blossoms by Tang Bin as his
favourite work of art.
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| Gigi and her lover Eav |
Despite the offer of his daughter's hand in marriage, Mr Chao, who claimed to have slept with around 10,000 women, is the one who has been inundated with marriage offers.
He is unlikely to accept any of them
however, afraid that any potential wife is only after his money.
Gigi is a director of Mr Chao's
company Cheuk Nang and also runs a modelling agency.
The pair are both qualified
helicopter pilots.
She has long been thought of as a
natural heir to her father's extensive business empire, but it is now believed
that in the absence of a husband, he will pass the business on to one of his
sons instead.
But Mr Chao says it is more the lack
of a grandchild that bothers him more than her relationship with Miss Yeung.
He told the Financial Times: 'I
would not force her to marry a man, but obviously I would from my point of
view, prefer her to be married and to have grandchildren.'
Mr Chao offered up the dowry for his
daughter after he was a apprached by a reporter following rumours that his
daughter had entered into a civil partnership with Miss Yeung.
The tycoon admitted that he was
shocked.
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| The lavish |
He said: 'Gigi is still young and beautiful. She has 70 per cent of her life to go.'
Following the dowry the 76-year-old
property magnate seemed to accept 33-year-old Gigi's 'gay tendencies' but made
some heavy hints that he wants her to 're-consider her choice'.
‘I'm not saying that she's not okay
to be gay,’ he told ABC News 20/20 back in October.
‘I mean it's her own choice and her
own tendency, but she should make sure she knows what she wants. Maybe what she
wants today is different [than] what she wants in the future.’
Ms Chao married her long-term
partner Sean in a church ceremony in Paris last year.
She insisted at the time that she
will not be ditching her partner – no matter the quality of man her father’s
millions can buy.
‘My heart is taken,’ she said.
Ms Chao added that her father‘s
million dollar reward was an act of love and nothing else.
‘I am happy. And he knows I am
happy. He just wants me to be more happy.’
culled from dailymail.co.uk
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