{"id":8708775,"date":"2023-01-07T09:29:16","date_gmt":"2023-01-07T17:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/?p=8708775&preview=true&preview_id=8708775"},"modified":"2023-01-07T09:37:28","modified_gmt":"2023-01-07T17:37:28","slug":"celebrity-couple-from-china-embroiled-in-child-custody-battle-in-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2023\/01\/07\/celebrity-couple-from-china-embroiled-in-child-custody-battle-in-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrity couple from China embroiled in child custody battle in Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click here for updates on this story<\/a><\/p>\n

DENVER (KCNC<\/a>) \u2014 A messy celebrity custody battle is playing out in the Denver County Court.<\/p>\n

The celebrities in this case, however, are from China, where their scandal has rocked the country and led to them being banned from social media.<\/p>\n

Shuang Zheng is a megastar actress and Heng Zhang is a reality television producer. Three years ago, they came to the U.S. to have children via surrogates, something that is forbidden in China.<\/p>\n

But two months before the births of their son and daughter, the couple split.<\/p>\n

Zhang says his ex-girlfriend wanted to abort the babies. He offered to raise them alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told her I understand because you are a celebrity you don\u2019t want anyone to know you have a surrogation baby in the United States,\u201d Zhang said.<\/p>\n

He says Zheng went back to China and he settled in Denver with his parents as a single dad.<\/p>\n

A year later, he says, his ex-girlfriend suddenly reappeared and filed for custody of the kids.<\/p>\n

Their battle in Denver County Court has made international headlines, but Zhang says what\u2019s happened behind the scenes is far more disturbing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe past six months both of my children got injured really bad when they stayed with my ex-girlfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zhang provided pictures showing stitches in his daughter\u2019s finger and what appears to be a burn under his son\u2019s nose.<\/p>\n

He says his ex\u2019s explanation for the injuries keeps changing, while his children become afraid when they have to see their mom.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son was so struggling \u2018No, don\u2019t go dad. Let\u2019s go home. I\u2019m afraid. I\u2019m afraid of mom\u2019 and crying. That is why I called child protective service because he told me mama did it,\u201d Zhang said.<\/p>\n

He says protective services let him down which is why he\u2019s speaking out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want everyone living in Colorado to know this story. The reason we have the child protective services department is because we want to protect our children before they got hurt not after they got hurt the department started to investigate, that\u2019s too late,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Zheng\u2019s attorneys, Martha Timmers and Madeleine Rosengrants of Sherman & Howard, released a statement saying:<\/p>\n