54% of her body had third-degree burns.
Koreaboo
In the blink of an eye, a popular idol went from shooting a scene to being flown to a hospital for treatment. Third-degree burns covered 54% of her body.
Selina Jen is a member of the 24-year-old Taiwanese girl group S.H.E. S.H.E is widely considered the most successful Mandopop group of all time. Since 2001, they have released 13 albums, with sales totaling more than 10 million. In addition to being a S.H.E member, Selina also debuted as an actress.
On October 22, 2010, the then 29-year-old star was severely burned on her hands, back, and legs during an indoor shoot for the musical series Love In Spring (also known as I Have A Date With Spring). An on-set explosion scene went awry, injuring Selina and her 25-year-old co-star, actor Yu Haoming, who sustained severe second-degree burns on 39% of his body, including his face. Selina was flown from Shanghai to Taipei on a medical charter flight for treatment.
Media reports at the time credited Haoming with saving Selina’s life, but he later refuted this claim by saying that he doesn’t remember saving her.
The actual details of the accident were revealed by the footage recorded by the cameraman. It was the exaggerated media reports that caused the misunderstanding.
— Yu Haoming
After 88 days of healing, away from the spotlight, Selina made her first public appearance at a press conference at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in New Taipei City. “Sorry for making everyone so worried,” she told reporters in the packed conference hall, “I can finally go home today.”
Her S.H.E members, Ella Chen and Hebe Tian, also attended the press conference.
At that time, my physical and mental state were relatively negative. I couldn’t help but think that I had committed some crime to be trapped in scars every day. The only thing I could do was rehabilitation. The same homework, [with] the same ineffective results. The wounds would split open and become blistered, and my body and mind were very frustrated.
— Selina Jen, 2021
Though Selina’s burns healed, she continued to feel the mental and physical effects of the explosion years later. In 2021, she revealed that a sudden change in temperature causes her to experience hot-flash-like temperature changes because her body can’t dissipate heat the way it could before her accident. Her metabolism has also changed, and she gets bloated more easily after eating salty foods.
It is like going through early menopause. I sweat more than others. When the wind blows, I get cold easily, and my body temperature drops.
— Selina Jen, 2021
Where is she now? After her accident, Selina Jen continued singing and acting, and she is also a mother of one now. After divorcing her husband of five years, lawyer Richard Chang, in 2016, she began dating Xu, a non-celebrity seven years her junior, in 2022. In 2023, Selina announced the birth of her son.
She regularly posts on Instagram, keeping fans up to date about her personal and professional life. Like a phoenix, this star rose from the ashes, and she’s flying high!
