Barbie Hsu statue unveiled at her resting place

Taipei, Feb. 2 (CNA) A statue of late Taiwanese singer and actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) was unveiled by her mother, nicknamed "S Mom," and Barbie Hsu's South Korean husband Koo Jun-yup on Monday in her resting place in New Taipei, one year after her death.

S Mom, Koo and other family members including Hsu's younger sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) stood around the statue in Chin Pao San, a private cemetery.

Designed by Koo, the statue is surrounded by nine cubes that he described as representing nine planets.

The statue faces south toward Taipei, where her family lives, a design that Koo said symbolizes the family's eternal love for his wife and their wish for it to endure forever.

Among the celebrities who attended the event to memorize Barbie Hsu were Super Junior's Choi Si-won; Taiwanese television producer Wang Wei-chung (王偉忠) and his wife; TV hosts Kevin Tsai (蔡康永) and Matilda Tao (陶晶瑩); and singer Rainie Yang (楊丞琳).

Also in attendance were F4 members Jerry Yan (言承旭) and Vic Chou (周渝民), as well as Taipei Financial Center Corp. Chairperson Janet Chia (賈永婕) and her husband, entertainment manager Chiu Li-kuan (邱瓈寬).

Barbie Hsu died of pneumonia at the age of 48 on Feb. 2, 2025, while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday.

She made her debut as a singer alongside her sister Dee under the name S.O.S. in 1994. They later adopted the name ASOS due to contractual issues.

Barbie Hsu began hosting television programs in 1995 and acting in TV series in 1998, cementing her stardom as an actress in 2001 with the lead role of Shan Cai in the Taiwanese drama "Meteor Garden" (流星花園), in which F4 became famous.

Off-screen, Barbie Hsu was a well-known celebrity across Asia. She married Chinese entrepreneur Wang Xiaofei (汪小菲) in 2010 and gave birth to a daughter and a son in 2014 and 2016, before the couple divorced in 2021.

In 2022, she announced her marriage to Koo, with whom she shared a brief romance in the late 1990s before his management advised them to part ways.

Koo, who has been deeply affected by his wife's death, has been visiting her resting place almost every day, according to local media reports.