Famed Taiwanese entertainment manager Sun De Rong was arrested on Friday (Oct 16) on suspicions of abusing drugs.
Sun De Rong is the main manager of music label J-Star, which housed then-heavyweights including 5566, 183 Club and 7 Flowers. He was well-known to be extremely strict with his artistes, and is rumoured to have kicked former 183 Club member Jacky Chu out of the group for a number of reasons: having a messy love life, constant late-night partying and marijuana abuse. Only the first two reasons were acknowledged by the company.
Taiwanese police are said to have applied for search warrants after receiving tip-offs and arrived at Sun De Rong’s Neihu home at night, where they found two packets of Amphetamine, a potent central nervous system stimulant. A common street name for the substance is speed. He was subsequently arrested and brought back to the Changchun police station for investigations.
Yesterday (Oct 18), former 5566 member Zax Wang shared that Sun De Rong turned to drugs as a way to deal with bladder cancer. Two years ago, the manager shared with the media that he was diagnosed with cancer but kept the details and severity of the situation tightly under wraps.
According to Zax, Sun De Rong has removed his prostate, lymph nodes, seminal vesicle and even his reproductive organs in order to have a chance at survival. He has gone through two major surgeries and three months of radiotherapy and chemotherapy to battle his cancer, which was in the third stage. Doctors used 50cm of his large intestines to create an artificial bladder for him and close friends shared that it was painful to watch him suffer.
5566’s leader, Tony Sun, shared through his personal Facebook that Sun De Rong had to get up to relieve himself six to eight times every night and was diagnosed with kidney inflammation caused by sepsis when he had to hold in his urine. Even then, he would smile and assure friends that he was fine, causing them to worry even more for him.
This was Tony’s first public statement after news of his divorce from Angel Han broke. The pair is reportedly so close that Tony treats Sun De Rong as his father. He continued, “My dad made a mistake and he’ll be dealt with according to the law. Shouldn’t everyone give him one chance (so that) this amazingly strong man doesn’t stumble? This is my only request.” Showing his support for his former manager, he added, “We all need you to watch over us, so chin up dad!”