Chinese Star Wen Zhang Tweets Apology for Having an Affair, Becomes Social Media Record Breaker

This wasn't a fun, star-studded Oscars selfie, but it created a similar response on social media.

Famous Chinese actor Wen Zhang took to Weibo, China's Twitter equivalent, to apologize to his wife, actress Ma Yili, and the public for having an affair with actress Yao Di, his co-star on the popular Chinese TV show Naked Marriage.

"I have brought this upon myself. A mistake is a mistake. This has nothing to do with anyone else," Wen reportedly wrote. "Today, I am willing to accept all the consequences. I've let down Ma Yili and our children. My mistake does not deserve to be forgiven, and it will be difficult for me to make amends for all the harm I've caused. But I want to do it. I have to do it. This is what I'll do for the rest of my life."

Zhang's digital mea culpa generated over 2.5 million comments and was retweeted more than 1 million times in 10 hours, which were both new records for Weibo (for reference—Ellen DeGenere's famous Oscar selfie was retweeted more than 1.8 million times in the first hour).

Yili, who is pregnant with the couple's second child, responded shortly afterward with a shorter message on Weibo. "Being in love is easy, being married is not. It is to be cherished," her post, which had 650,000 retweets and nearly a million comments, read.

Zhang is known for his work in Jet Li's Badges of Fury and the 2013 film Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons.