Victoria’s Secret model Ming Xi has married Mario Ho Yau-kwan, the youngest son of Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun after a two-month engagement.
The couple jointly posted photos on Chinese microblogging site Weibo, teasing each other with compliments about the other’s “good taste” in partners.
Ho and his mother, Angela Leong On-kei confirmed that the marriage certificate had been signed and that a formal wedding ceremony will be held next year.
The couple first met when Ho’s elder sister Sabrina introduced the two and they started dating in 2017 after taking part in Mr Left Mr Right, a Chinese television dating show.
The pair’s proposal on May 13 took the internet by storm after 24-year-old Ho asked for Xi’s hand in grandiose fashion.
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Three floors of Shanghai’s L’Avenue Mall was cordoned off and decked with 99,999 roses, a pink castle backdrop and heart-shaped flower arches, giving his wife-to-be a crown to wear and inviting 1,000 of their friends and family members to watch, Ho with microphone in hand got down on one knee and presented his love with a Louis Vuitton box inscribed with a handwritten proposal message.
On his Instagram account, Ho posted a photo of the proposal to his 195,000 followers that he is living a “fairy tale” and that “I can’t believe I actually married the girl I said I was going to marry when I was younger…I’m still in disbelief!!!”
30-year-old Xi posted the same photo on her Instagram account with the caption: “I said YES!!!!!! Of course I did!!!!!!!!!!”
There was rumours circulating that Xi was pregnant and had forced Ho to propose.
Ho denied the claims and offered HK$100 million (SGD 17 million) to anyone who could prove otherwise.
Ming Xi was born Xi Mengyao in Shanghai and she became famous after appearing on the 2009 all-female talent show Go! Oriental Angel, in which contestants were required to sing, act and play instruments.
Graduating from fashion design and acting from Donghua University, Xi was ranked third while representing China in a competition held by US agency Elite Model Management.
She started walking in runway shows for high fashion brands such as Givenchy, Dior and Vivenne Westwood and is considered one of China’s top models.
Xi acted in Enter The Warriors’ Gate, a Chinese action-comedy film as one of the three magical triplets and has starred in a total of four films to date.
She is most famous for appearing in six consecutive Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows between 2013 and 2018.
Xi hit headlines worldwide after she fell in 2017 during the Shanghai edition of the show while wearing a costume featuring gladiator stilettos and a large blossom back piece.
She later shared on Instagram that it was, “one of the hardest I have ever had to go through in my career”.
The 16th of 17 children of Hong Kong-born billionaire Stanley Ho, 97, Ho the youngest son.
Stanley made his fortune in the Macau casino industry and Leong is his forth wife with whom he has four other children.
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Ho is a mathematical whizz despite living a fancy lifestyle that seems him regularly appear on the Rich Kids of Hong Kong Instagram feed.
He won a number of regional and international competitions and studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he famously completed a four-year degree in three years by taking double the usual number of classes per semester.
He is the CEO and founder of Tiancai, a start-up that provides software development, blockchain and artificial intelligence services.
Despite the short period of time between the couple’s engagement and marriage, Ho has impressed fans with his romantic gestures and messages to his now-wife.
During their proposal, onlookers reported that he told Xi, “Every moment we spend together makes me feel very safe,” adding: “Spending our days together is the greatest joy in my life. I really treasure this. I hope that this love will last forever.”