The last few times I’ve posted about Simu Liu it was about his love life. He and Jade Bender made it red carpet official this summer which is newsworthy because Simu is newsworthy – he’s been newsworthy now for over a year, ever since the release of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Simu is now superhero famous and has, in the last twelve months, checked off the superhero fame boxes: magazine covers, talk show appearances, award show appearances, and…yes… interest in his love life. He’s publicly confirmed a relationship. And now he’s publicly confirmed a breakup. 

 

Per PEOPLE, Simu was at a tech conference last week and during a Q&A session talked about his mental health. His response:

"I experienced moments where I'm living my dream and it didn't quite feel like I was where I needed to be with myself. I'm also going through a breakup. That's probably also contributing to it but that's okay, I'll be okay."

Sounds like his relationship with Jade is over. PEOPLE reached out to his reps but didn’t hear back. But this may be another box checked on the superhero famous list: scheduling issues getting in the way of romance. Not that anyone knows exactly why Simu and Jade are no longer together, and if that’s even the reason, but Simu is VERY, VERY, VERY busy. He’s currently shooting a movie (Atlas) with Jennifer Lopez. It’s the fifth movie he’s worked on since the release of Shang-Chi last September. On top of all other sh-t he’s been doing all year, like the aforementioned talk shows and his movie and his charity work which includes competing on Celebrity Jeopardy (more on this in a minute). It goes on and on and on… because Simu says “yes” a LOT, and this is what I wrote about back in May when he hosted the Time 100 gala. When you reach a certain point of success, “yes” isn’t always possible anymore. And too many “yeses” can set you back. Simu seems to be alluding to this in an Instagram post marking the one-year anniversary of Shang-Chi a couple of weeks ago – read the caption: 

 

He was “afraid of taking the foot off the gas”. He was “obsessed with…taking up space and representing for [his] community” – this can be the downside of being an F.O.D. (First Only Different). You’re getting all these opportunities, you don’t want to miss out on them, you’re afraid if you say “no”, they won’t be there anymore, and you want to be there for all the people who are coming through the door behind you. But there are consequences, like exhaustion, in Simu’s case, and on the business side of things, there’s also risk of over-exposure. Fame is a delicate balance. It’s hard to figure out when you’re in the eye of it what’s too much and what’s too little. And it’s hard to figure out where your relationships fit into all of that, too. 

On the plus side though… Simu keeps winning. He’s a Celebrity Jeopardy champion now after Sunday’s episode and is advancing to the semi-finals. 

 

In keeping with the theme of this post though, where there’s a win, there’s sometimes also a loss: 

 

Simu was in second place heading into Final Jeopardy. Full clip of how he pulled it off is below. 

 

Attached - Simu and Jade out for dinner together in August.