Tubtim accused of infidelity
Television presenter Mallika "Tubtim" Chongwattana is facing claims
she was unfaithful to her husband, in the messy aftermath of the pair's
announcement they had ended their marriage.
Tubtim last week threatened legal action after a tit-for-tat battle on social media erupted with friends of her presenter husband, Surabot "Pleum" Leekpai, who was earlier confronted with claims the marriage ended because he himself was playing around.
The pair presented a show on Thailand’s most popular YouTube channel, VRZO, which also airs on a True Vision TV channel. Tubtim has since quit her presenter role.
After Pleum declared earlier this month their marriage was at an end, fans and former colleagues in his troubled production company quickly took sides, culminating in a proxy war by social media as each dished dirt on the other.
The first victim was Pleum, when a series of images emerged in which the presenter is seen with a young woman.
He quickly denied he had cheated on Tubtim, insisting the woman was just a friend and they were no longer seeing each other.
He and Tubtim had discovered their love was "really that of friends" rather than life partners, he said, explaining why the marriage had failed.
Pleum, the only son of former prime minister Chuan Leekpai, married Tubtim at a royally sponsored wedding ceremony in Bangkok in October 2012.
Tubtim's sister, Chanidapa Chongwattana, was one of the first to speak out on the pictures.
"The truth must come out when his little wife shows herself. In fact, he’s had one for ages.
My younger sister has put up with so much. I feel sorry for her. The wretch! Help me share this post widely," the Facebook post said.
In response, Pleum said he met the woman in the pictures after he had broken up with Tubtim. "We just talked, nothing more," he said.
"I don’t know what the motives are [of these claims], but I have hired a lawyer to pursue the culprits for defamation," he said.
By early last week the row had escalated, with Pleum's mother laying a complaint with police, on her own behalf and that of her son. In a social media post, she accused an unnamed party of defamation, theft, blackmail and harassment.
As the social media pendulum started to swing back in Pleum's favour, a friend of the couple emerged to insist it was Tubtim, not Pleum, who cheated on their marriage first.
The friend, who claims he knows Pleum well, published excerpts from a Line exchange with Tubtim in which she asks him to pay off a security guard at a city eatery to delete an "incriminating" clip against her.
"He told me that Tubtim had been talking to other men for as long as they have been together," the friend said, referring to Pleum.
"When he found out she was talking to someone on the sly, she would promise to quit. When they argued, she would have a man come and pick her up and disappear from the house for a couple of days."
The friend referred to an incident last November involving Tubtim at a city eatery. The couple were still together at the time.
"She found out the eatery has a CCTV camera. She sent me a message asking me to pay a guard to delete the file. She was worried he would let something slip," he said.
"I urged her not to go ahead, because he could ask for more, and the saga would never end. But she insisted, and transferred to me 10,000 baht.
"I gave it to the guard and he deleted the file, but I also told Pleum about it, and asked why he wasn't defending himself."
Neither Tubtim nor Pleum have gone before the mainstream media, preferring to conduct the saga through social media outlets.
In response, Tubtim said she didn't want to comment on the clip claims, but warned she would be pushed only so far.
"I don't want to say anything, as it may affect certain families ... but if you take it to the limit, I will have to get the truth out there to protect my reputation." -
2. Singer wants to halve his age
Country music singer Surachai Sombatcharoen, 60, has undergone "face off" cosmetic surgery to give himself younger looks, saying he hopes to look like a man of 30 again.
Surachai, who was recovering yesterday after a six-to-seven hour operation at a Bangkok hospital, said he did it for the sake of his fans.
"As an entertainer I want to give people happiness. Audiences don’t want to look at a man of 60 giving concerts, so I have to strive for a younger look," said the veteran luk thung singer, who has contemplated the move for about 10 years.
His family helped him look for a suitable clinic, and eventually he settled on a doctor in Lad Phrao who he says is well-known overseas for performing so-called "face off" operations, which offer more lasting results than injecting Botox, filler or silicone.
"I have always rejected the idea of injections as I am afraid it might be dangerous," he said.
Surachai also has an album coming out, Jai Pi Yang Noom (My heart is still young), so wants a younger look to go with the name of the album.
News of his cosmetic surgery was covered widely in the media last week, with some netizens asking why he would bother at his stage of life.
Surachai responded: "I understand the critics, but at 60 I have nothing to lose. If it doesn’t work out, critics will say it serves you right, you go asking for trouble, but I have every confidence in my surgeon," he said yesterday.
The doctor will go to work on his face, eyes, eyebrows, chin and neck. The procedures include pulling up the eyebrows, and getting rid of the furrows between the brows and the wrinkles on his forehead.
The doctor will also pull up the ends of his eyes, chin, cheeks, neck, get rid of the fat beneath the chin and put in new hair.
His doctor says his new look should last for 10-20 years, compared to the six months offered by injections. Surachai is likely to emerge from hospital with his new looks by Thursday. -
3. Emm adjusts to bogus old life
The outspoken daughter of comedian Mom Jokmok is coming to terms with life back in "bogus" Thailand, and now says she would rather be here than living overseas where she spent her youth.
On social media last week, young internet goods trader Emm Busarakum marked five years since she returned to Thailand from the United States.
At first she found it hard to adjust, as she was used to the freedom of living overseas, where she could do as she pleased and not worry about what people thought. "When I first came back, I cried a flood because I was missing the US and Canada," she said.
"I was bored of this fake society, and couldn't be bothered trying to fit in.
"I shut myself off, and was lost for years, as I tried to decide what I wanted from life. But now? My life has changed, ever since I opened my heart and learned to accept things.
"Life is good these days, because it's much better being in Thailand than I first thought."
Emm was in the news late last year when her famous father took the family on a trip to Las Vegas.
While away, she complained of an encounter in a Las Vegas restaurant after a waiter advised them the bill did not include a tip.
"Shut your mouth! Don't tell me the bill doesn't include a tip. It's annoying! I am not Chinese ... we tip so much it's stunning. If you say too much, I won't leave anything!" she wrote.
After netizens asked if she hadn't gone over the top, she replied: "When I lived in America they stereotyped me and looked down on me as Asian.
"I wasn't angry with the waiter as I knew he was just doing his duty," she wrote.
"But there are many times where they fail to look after us properly because we come from certain places."
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