This was definitely one of the more interesting assignments to come my way. The story of Gigi Chao and her father, Cecil, who put up a large bounty (HK$500 million) to anyone who could wed and bed his lesbian daughter, went viral on the Internet late last year. As if her life weren’t storied enough growing up amongst the mansions, helicopters, and yachts of Hong Kong’s elite, she was suddenly the most famous lesbian in Asia and object of unwanted desire from a host of suitors around the world. My father in West Virginia even saw the story and sent me an email suggesting I take a trip from Beijing down to Hong Kong to see what was happening. Eight months later I was boarding a plane to try my luck… at taking her portrait for The Times. Fortunately she was gregarious and no stranger to the camera having already appeared in a host of magazines including a recent cover for Hong Kong Tatler. The shoot itself went very smoothly but was not the time or place to suggest absconding to Las Vegas to tie the knot. Gigi is already happily married to her partner, Sean, another scion of a wealthy Hong Kong family. The incident is far from over, though. It seems Sacha Baron Cohen caught onto the story and is preparing to film a parody of sorts. The absurdity of the entire situation is about to be severely compounded.
