BLING Empire has been billed as “Selling Sunset meets Crazy Rich Asians” and the Netflix reality show does not disappoint. The controversial series takes a deep dive into the world of Los Angeles’s wealthy Asian community – and reveals their eye-popping lifestyles. Here, we introduce you to the stars of the show including heiress Anna […]
BLING Empire has been billed as “Selling Sunset meets Crazy Rich Asians” and the Netflix reality show does not disappoint.
The controversial series takes a deep dive into the world of Los Angeles’s wealthy Asian community – and reveals their eye-popping lifestyles.
Here, we introduce you to the stars of the show including heiress Anna Shay, model Kevin Kreider and DJ Kim Lee.
From Rolexes handed out as party favours to impromptu trips to Paris, meet the crazily minted cast before you get stuck in.
DUBBED the “queen of Los Angeles”, half Japanese, half Russian divorcee Anna is the wealthy daughter of a defence contractor.
Her late father Edward Shay set up Pacific Architects and Engineers which Anna and her brother sold to defence giant Lockheed Martin in 2006 for a reported $1.2billion (£88million).
Her Japanese and Russian mother Ai-San Shay came from a pearl and silk flower export dynasty.
While the socialite has kept tight lipped about the identity of her ex husbands, she revealed she has been married – and divorced – four times.
Her son Kenny Kemp, 27, has a bong collection which he keeps in the basement of his mum’s $16million (£11.7million) mansion.
Anna has now placed her extravagant 9,000 sq ft home on the market.
Local sources say child star Shirley Temple lived in the house in the 1930s before it was taken over by Italian mobster Tony Milano.
While Shay does not directly confess her youthful appearance is down to surgery, she does admit: “Obviously we all like lasers, we all like Botox, Restylane and Juvederm.”
On the show, the heiress is extremely generous with her much younger friends.
Viewers see her flying some cast members to Paris, gifting dinner party guests Rolexes and decking others out in Christian Dior.
Challenger to Anna Shay’s crown, Christina, 38, has both links to Chinese and British royalty.
The couture-clad businesswoman runs a luxury plastic surgery clinic in Beverly Hills with her husband Dr Gabriel Chiu.
According to Christine, Dr Chiu is the 24th direct descendant of the Chinese Song dynasty which ended in 1279.
Christine was born in Taiwan but moved to the US to study PR at California’s prestigious Pepperdine University.
Alongside their celebrity medi-spa clinic, the Chius are hardworking in the charity sector.
In 2019, the Chius partnered with Prince Charles to fund a complementary health centre at Dumfries House in Cumnock, East Ayrshire.
In October 2016, a patient sued Gabriel Chiu and his practice for professional negligence. The doctor denied the allegations and the case later settled.
On the show the couple reveal they struggled for ten years to conceive their first and only child Gabriel Jr – nicknamed Baby G.
Christine reveals she hid her husband’s infertility issues from his family to avoid damaging his reputation.
Two-year-old Baby G is now lavished with designer outfits – with Christine holding a photoshoot for the baby on the series.
Newcomer to the group, fitness coach Kevin Kreider has modelled for Men’s Health and Gilette.
He was adopted by a white family and brought up in Philadelphia but in the show Kevin states he’d like to find his birth parents in Korea.
He said: “I hope maybe my birth parents see this,” he says. “Hopefully somebody in Korea watches this and maybe somebody will reach out, if they know anything.”
Although he claims to be “not rich”, Kevin is still worth a pretty penny – and more than some of his co-stars.
The hunk sells weight loss and exercise programmes on his website for $59 (£43) a pop.
He’s also dabbled in the media before starring in 2019 documentary The Ugly Model and have a TED talk about Western beauty standards.
Kevin has battled with alopecia and lost his hair in 2014 which caused him to stop modelling.
While recovering he filmed and produced an unreleased documentary about him skateboarding across the USA.
Singaporean Kane’s wealth comes from his billionaire father’s shipping and property empire.
And the 31-year-old fashionista likes to splash his cash on his 300-strong bejeweled shoe collection worth $380,000 (£278,290).
Kane said of his love of shopping: “I have walked into a designer shoe store and said, ‘I’ll take one pair of everything you have in every colour, I’ll take it all’.”
Aged 17, Kane’s father gave him a loan to start his own fashion label.
Kane claims to have made a million dollars in business by the age of 20.
He now invests in property and sells on lavish Los Angeles houses for a profit – one of his houses is currently listed for nearly $2.7million (£1.96million).
Before Bling Empire, Kane has already become an Instagram influencer – with even pop star Rihanna following him.
Fashion influencer Jaimie was a champion equestrian in her teens – and is now bankrolled by her billionaire father.
She said on the show: “My horses fly Emirates”.
Jaime studied at Los Angeles’s Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising for a year before dropping out to become a vlogger.
The 22-year-old now shares her fashion reviews on her YouTube channel to her 58,8000 subscribers.
In the programme she admits she rents an apartment for a staggering $19,000 a month, paying from her trust fund.
Her Silicon Valley entrepreneur father Ken Xie built the first firewall technology to protect computers from viruses.
He sold his business NetScreen in 2004 for $4billion (£2.93billion).
Estimated net worth: $200m (£146.4m)
Former pop star Cherie was once signed to Sony Music Japan but gave up music to appease her wealthy parents.
Heiress to an anonymous denim empire, she started organic tequila brand Religion with her boyfriend Jessey Lee.
They are parents to four-year-old Jadore and welcomed baby Jevan while filming the series.
Cherie said of the newborn: “I can’t wait to put him in my Hermes box and Hermes bag and take photos of him.”
In the series the pair debate over whether they should get married – with Cherie pressuring Jessey to pop the question.
SHE might be called Kim, but this Vietnamese DJ looks identical to Kylie Jenner – but she protests that the lipstick entrepreneur copied her look.
She said: “I think she’s gorgeous, but people that know me would say I’ve been looking like this before Kylie became ‘Kylie.'”
Known as “Asia’s Calvin Harris”, the 32-year-old was born in California but is fluent in Vietnamese.
She performs as part of DJig duo KimKat but got her foot in the fame door through modelling.
Kim was named FHM Asia’s sexiest woman alive after being crowned Miss Vietnam in 2011.
She has also starred in music videos for big name pop stars like Kanye West, Flo Rida and Neyo and even appeared in The Hangover II.
Once a billionaire’s wife, Kelly’s world came crashing down when her ex-husband was arrested for running a cyber fraud scheme.
She said: “In my twenties, I was married to a Chinese guy, and we lived in a privileged, outrageous lifestyle
“You know, seven cars, four houses. I think at the time we were spending, like, $400k a month on our black [American Express card] until one day the government showed up and took everything from us, and my ex-husband was arrested.”
After her husband’s assets were frozen, Kelly got divorced and started afresh.
She set up production company Organic Media Group in 2018 and produced film Echo Boomers, starring Patrick Schwarzenegger.
The eagle-eyed will have spotted she is also listed as a producer on Bling Empire.
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