Husband Sues Beautiful Wife For Bearing Him Ugly Children? The Truth Behind The Viral Story

Is there really such a thing as an “ugly baby?”

Everyone hopes for their babies to be the cutest ever seen, and many parents love their children so much that they genuinely believe it. Yet, there’s a viral story of a man who sued his wife after she birthed “ugly children.”

Heidi Yeh

This story first began circulating as early as 2004. It focuses on a Chinese man, Jian Feng, who allegedly divorced and sued his wife after she gave birth to an ugly baby girl.

A Chinese man divorced and then sued his ex-wife for giving birth to what he called an extremely ugly baby girl, the Irish Times reported.

Initially, Jian Feng accused his wife of infidelity, so sure that he could never father an unattractive child.

When a DNA test proved that the baby was his, Feng’s wife came clean on a little secret — before they met, she had undergone about $100,000 worth of cosmetic surgery in South Korea.

Feng sued his ex-wife on the grounds of false pretenses, for not telling him about the plastic surgery and duping him into thinking she was beautiful, The Huffington Post reported.

The kicker? He won. A judge agreed with Feng’s argument and ordered his ex-wife to fork over $120,000.

‘I married my wife out of love, but as soon as we had our first daughter, we began having marital issues,’ he told the Irish Times. ‘Our daughter was incredibly ugly, to the point where it horrified me.’

— Irish Times via Snopes

Photos often included in this story | propel steps – WordPress

At that time, Heilongjiang Morning Post published that Feng’s wife had gone to South Korea and undergone extensive cosmetic surgery to transform her unattractive appearance. She allegedly had never communicated her past to him, but the “secret” was revealed when she gave birth to their first baby, who was “ugly.” He then allegedly sued and divorced her over claims of “deceit.”

A Chinese man has divorced and sued his wife for £55,000 after discovering she’d had plastic surgery before they met.

Jian Feng, 38, was said to have been ‘horrified’ when she gave birth to an ugly baby daughter. He suspected her of having an affair.

His wife then confessed to having plastic surgery costing £70,000 in South Korea before they met and showed him a picture of how she used to look.

He filed for divorce two years after marrying her following a whirlwind romance.

The Heilongjiang Morning Post said Jian successfully sued for deceit.

— Heilongjiang Morning Post via Snopes

Photo used for illustrative purposes published initially for this story | Irish Examiner

Yet, it was nearly a decade later, in 2012, when this story really circulated the internet, going viral. It was then that a picture of the alleged family was attached to it. Many news outlets, such as MSN and FOX, picked up the story, claiming that the man successfully sued his ex-wife, winning $120,000 USD. The image included in these reports for “proof” included three kids, and the stories reported multiple “children” rather than just a “baby girl.” Even the oldest child is a boy, not a girl. That alone should have called into question its authenticity.

Husband sues wife for giving birth to an "incredibly ugly" girl. Well, comedy gets real sometimes… pic.twitter.com/KiOuVV4Tdg

— Blossom Ozurumba (@blossomozurumba) December 27, 2013

This famous photo, which aided the story in going viral, is indeed unrelated to the now infamous “news” of the man divorcing and suing his wife over their ugly kids. This family photo is actually from a Taiwanese ad for a plastic surgery clinic from 2012. It’s Taiwanese model Heidi Yeh (also known as Ye Wan Cheng), and the pictured children were digitally edited to make them appear “ugly.” The ad read, “The only thing you’ll ever have to worry about is how to explain it to the kids.” Heidi Yeh reportedly filed a lawsuit after the photo went viral as it was misappropriation, damaging her career and ruining her life.

Not only is this photo totally unrelated to the infamous story. None of it is true. Its origins are a single-source item printed in the unreputable Chinese newspaper Heilongjiang Morning Post, which is “known for publishing urban-legend like tales without verification, such as its fictitious story about a man who arranged to meet his online girlfriend for their first “real” date only to discover that she was his son’s wife.” Still, the newspaper has since apologized for publishing its viral story without verification of facts. 

Heidi Yeh