Former mainland Chinese star Luo Zheng, who rose to fame with “Idol Producer” in the past, recently revealed in a program interview that he has been burdened with debt for nearly 10 years since his debut. He publicly shared his bank account balance of only 4831 yuan (RMB), sparking discussions among netizens.
Luo Zheng and his current manager recently appeared on the show “Showbiz and Their Managers.” Discussing past contractual disputes with his former management company, he admitted that in the early days of entering the entertainment industry, he was young and swayed by the dream painted by his former agency without carefully reviewing the contract, leading to signing a 10-year contract.
Now 30 years old, Luo Zheng confessed that the keyword of the past 10 years of his life has been “debt.” He initially thought that entering the entertainment industry would change his life through hard work, but most of his income ended up being used to pay off contract-related expenses.
He revealed that when he first signed the contract, his monthly salary was around 2,500 yuan, which increased to 5,000 yuan after participating in “Idol Producer” and gaining popularity. During the years of peak fame, his annual bank account transactions reached as high as 2-3 million yuan, but by the end of the year, he only received a meager bonus of 20,000 yuan. It turned out that his former company deducted all expenses under the guise of “training costs,” including studio depreciation fees, water dispenser costs, light bulb replacement expenses, as well as transportation and accommodation fees for staff visits and assistant salaries, all borne by the artist.
After the tragic death of Yu Menglong last year, some netizens dug up a Tencent video from 2019. At that time, well-known mainland Chinese host He Jiong shared on the variety show “Touching Offers” that he observed a case of a newcomer interning at a law firm, delving deep into understanding one of the artist contract dispute cases. After hearing the basic introduction of the case, he sighed and remarked that signing a 5-year contract when he was young was already exaggerated, but later on, it became mind-boggling that some young artists were signing contracts starting from at least 10 years.
He Jiong specifically mentioned that when producing talent shows, some companies would sign contracts with 100 young boys, mainly aimed at promoting one star to enhance the company’s fame and profit. He pointed out, “As long as one artist becomes famous, the other 99 who fail to gain recognition are essentially abandoned by the company.” He bluntly stated, “These 99 unrecognized artists can only fade away slowly, and when they eventually want to leave the company for independent development, they are required to pay at least 500,000 as a breach fee, with the management company ultimately profiting from contract termination.”
Luo Zheng lamented that he was “getting poorer with more acting gigs” at that time, even once considering becoming a security guard out of despair.
In addition to financial exploitation, Luo Zheng also lived under the shadow of constant surveillance. The company assigned assistants to secretly film Luo Zheng’s private moments as a form of coercion under the guise of work. When he reached a breaking point and requested to terminate the contract, his former company demanded a staggering 50 million yuan as a breach fee. Fortunately, with the help of his current manager handling legal issues, the compensation was reduced to a few million yuan, which saved his former management company from bankruptcy twice.
Luo Zheng disclosed that he had cleared his major debts by January 2024, but he still needs to pay off the legal fees accumulated from the contract termination lawsuit that year in installments.
After the program aired, “Luo Zheng, with only over 4,000 yuan after 10 years in the entertainment industry,” quickly trended on social media. Many netizens expressed disbelief, saying, “It’s hard to imagine the life behind a celebrity’s halo,” and lamented, “It truly overturns the public perception of artists.”