Cherie Chan and Jessey Lee shocked Netflix’s Bling Empire fans when they abruptly quit the series to focus on their family after secretly getting married. Now, new cast member Leah Qin, tells HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY that she feels “there are some reasons that we don’t know behind why Cherie and Jesse quit the show.” The luxury real estate developer dropped a major bombshell during the series’ second season premiere when she let it slip that Jessey already had a wife and two daughters when he first met Cherie. The news stunned everyone on the cast, including those closest to the couple.
Unfortunately Leah never got to talk out the drama with Cherie and Jessey, because they decided to bow out of Bling Empire, saying they wanted to focus on their family and businesses. The move caught everyone by surprise, including Leah. “Being on a reality show is very new for me,” she explained, “So when I talked to producers I asked them, if there’s drama that’s going to blow up, what’s going to happen later? They said, it’s just like Kim [Lee] and Anna [Shay], they kind of fought at the beginning [of season one] and later on, on the last episode, they talked it out and it’s all good, it’s a reality show. So I thought, okay cool. But then things changed.”
Of course, drama is what viewers tune in for, so there are plenty of other juicy storylines on season 2 of Bling Empire, including a scandalous falling out between Kane Lim and Kevin Kreider. The once-inseparable friends had a blow-out fight after Kane got in the middle of Kevin’s budding relationship with Kim and broke the bro-code. The former friends still haven’t mended their relationship, but Leah revealed that she’s been doing “damage control” to try and end their feud.
“I have always been close with Kane and recently I started getting close to Kevin because Kane is always traveling,” she shared. “And you know, they had a big falling out so I’ve been doing damage control between them. I told Kane, hey Kevin still loves you, but you guys just need to chill, friendship is like that. But if I say too much they will think I’m taking a side, so I have to be careful.”
Leah isn’t having a lot of luck playing peacemaker between the pair, at least not yet. “They have to meet up for certain events because of the show, but they have a wall up between them.” she added. “I just saw Kane and told hey, you know Kevin really isn’t talking badly about you it’s time to get over it. But then yesterday I did a podcast with Kevin and he kind of complained about Kane the whole 30-minutes. So now I’m going to have to do damage control again.”
When Leah isn’t busy with Bling Empire and her co-stars’ drama, she’s all about building her empire, which includes launching her own liquor brand later this summer. “Soju is a type of spirit that is very popular in Korea and I want to introduce this here in America as a premium brand. The same way that tequila has become so popular and people have started drinking it with fine dining and at high end clubs and hotels, they feel like it’s a prestige to enjoy this type of alcohol, I am going to do the same thing with [my brand] Xoju. We are going to launch in August and I have a very strong team, they have worked with Elon Musk, with The Weeknd, so I’m really excited.”
Leah lives a life of luxury, but she revealed to HollywoodLife that it wasn’t that way. “For me in general I have been at the bottom and I understand the top of wealth too. I have experienced a lot in my life because I grew up in a way where I had to strive for this life. I had an American dream, I want to take care of my parents, even now I am still sending money to my parents in China to support them with their monthly expenses, I’m very traditional this way.
“I have a different point of view as far as seeing the real wealth,” she added. “I think the meaning of real wealth is a combination of happiness, health and also people you love, how they love you and your relationships with them. And of course, a lot of cash in the bank and a lot of property helps, but if somebody has that, but doesn’t have their health, it all kind of loses its meaning. Our circle of friends is kind of in that category already so I have my own understanding of how wealth is supposed to be. I give Kane and Christine [Chiu] a lot of credit because they both came from a good family, but they also worked hard, very hard.”
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