Singer denies he 'forced' woman to have an abortion

Chinese pop singer Cai Xukun on Monday admitted he'd had a relationship with a woman but stressed it was "consensual" and that their "private affairs" had been settled "appropriately", responding to allegations that have been widely spread on Chinese social media in the past week.

Cai also denied in a statement that the woman was underage and was "forced" to have abortion.

The highly popular singer's statement came a week after an entertainment blogger, who claimed to be an insider, made several social media posts claiming that in 2021, Cai had a one night stand with a woman and asked her to have an abortion after she found herself pregnant a month later.

"I was single two years ago and had a relationship with Ms C. The personal matter between us was properly resolved in 2021, with no further entanglements between us," said Cai in a statement that has garnered more than 5 million interactions on micro-blogging platform Weibo within three hours.

He apologized to the public while underscoring that the relationship between them was consensual and involved no illegal acts.

"This lesson for me is painful. These past two years, I have felt remorse," Cai said, vowing to strictly manage his words and deeds and accept the supervision of the public and society.

Cai didn't respond to allegations that his mother, who suspected the woman of lying about the pregnancy, hired a private investigator to monitor the woman and had a pinhole camera illegally installed on the woman's door.

Following Cai's statement, his work team also issued a brief statement on its verified Weibo account, denouncing some "untrue" allegations that it said were made up and hyped up deliberately, and misled the public.

"These rumors have seriously damaged the singer's personality rights and social public image, and are suspected of insulting him and defamation," the statement said, noting that it has filed a batch of infringement lawsuits to the court.