TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taipei court has granted Taiwanese actress and singer Phoebe Huang (黃嘉千) a divorce from her Canadian husband and fellow actor, Christopher Downs, after 16 years of marriage.
The two have been involved in marital disputes and legal battles in both Taiwan and Canada for over two years, with Huang accusing Downs of domestic violence, which he denied. Their conflict quickly escalated publicly, drawing in friends from the entertainment industry.
After 702 days of proceedings, Shilin District Court on Aug. 14 ruled to grant the divorce, per ETtoday. The court said neither party showed any effort to reconcile during the proceedings, indicating a severe breakdown of their relationship, and making it difficult to expect them to continue a happy marriage.
Downs reportedly first filed for divorce in Canada on Jan. 22, 2022, while Huang filed for divorce in Taiwan on March 9 that year. On July 25, 2023, the Crown Prosecutor's office in Vancouver dropped all charges of domestic violence against Downs that Huang had leveled against him, per Cinema Online.
Downs previously revealed the legal battle had cost him NT$5.6 million (US$175,000) and claimed that Huang held NT$200 million in assets. Huang recently broke her silence, saying she had not obtained Canadian citizenship because Downs was unwilling to process it.
While in Canada, Huang sought help from Taiwanese actress and friend Lang Tsu Yun (郎祖筠), who introduced her to a Canadian attorney. After the domestic abuse case in Canada was dropped, Huang returned to Taiwan with her family to pursue the divorce case from her home country.
Before temporarily leaving Taiwan in June, Downs said he would file two charges against certain individuals citing “serious and harmful threats.” However, that same month, he told ETtoday that he would not be suing Lang and Taiwanese actor Bobby Dou (竇智孔) for defamation as “I don't want my family to see this.”
During the final court hearing on July 10, Downs gestured an “OK” sign to reporters, adding, “I hope this is the last time.”
The pair married in Canada in 2006 and had a daughter in 2009. Due to the pandemic, the two have spent extended periods living apart from each other in their respective countries.
In 2021, Downs posted a photo of the couple appearing to be enjoying each other's company in Canada. However, on July 6, 2022, Mirror Media cited sources revealing that Huang had filed for divorce at Taipei Shilin District Court.
