Japanese Figure Skater Yuzuru Hanyu Announces Divorce on Social Media, Only 3 Months After Marriage What Key Information Should We Pay Attention To?

On November 17th, Yuzuru Hanyu announced on his personal official homepage Yuzuru Hanyu official_Staff that he has divorced Yuzuru Hanyu declared his divorce after only being married for just over 3 months

Nov 18, 2023 figure-skating, yuzuru-hanyu

Heartless Divorce

He was really heartless. For the past three months, he never publicly defended his wife. After three months, he divorced her and set her free. From now on, I’ll give you your freedom, and you give me back my fans. Farewell, and may we both find peace…

Reasons for Divorce and Hidden Interests

Men like him are mostly driven by self-interest.

Assuming that this marriage actually existed and he had the emotional upper hand while the woman was an outsider with no power or background, then he is not responsible for her.
Assuming that he entered into this relationship because of the woman’s outstanding background and assertive personality, then the impact on his career can be considered an unexpected misfortune. It shows his immaturity and lack of caution.
Assuming that he is gay and this marriage was only for the purpose of raising his own biological child, then it is really unnecessary. The cost-effectiveness is low, and it may even be a big loss.

Actually, based on my own judgment and reasoning (purely based on my logic and personal experience):

I think men like Yuzuru Hanyu, ambitious and proud, may seem like spoiled puppies on the outside, but deep down, they know how to make use of their appearance and figure skating achievements to attract the affection of women and gain benefits.

This kind of benefit doesn’t imply any positive or negative value judgment; it’s just a means.

For example, he has many female fans and many endorsement deals. These are legitimate ways of making money and there is no need to criticize them.

I do not deny his talent as a figure skater.

Whether a person is down-to-earth or arrogant and impulsive, they have their own unique temperament that can be felt.

Oh, this type of person is probably what you would call a “cloth-cutting man.”

I think it is unlikely that he got involved with an ordinary outsider woman due to admiration alone. In this case, it is highly probable that the woman was already pregnant before marriage. Due to personal pressure or societal expectations, the man’s family decided to go along with it and get married, then divorced shortly after, in order to legitimize the child’s status. After Yuzuru Hanyu gets divorced, he may never get married again.

They just fulfilled the task of having a child.

But… I think the benefit in this case is too low, and it mostly depends on the assumption that the woman was already pregnant and could use it as a threat. If the man agrees, he can have a child, but if he disagrees, it would damage his reputation and image.

In this cost-benefit analysis, if the man’s family was in this situation, they might have negotiated not to get married but to provide financial support to the child’s mother. However, maybe the woman did not agree to this.

Because Yuzuru Hanyu himself was not willing to make this relationship public, the only way to make him compromise and even enter into marriage would be if the woman, who is in a weak position, had something unique to her. That unique factor would be if she was already pregnant and refused to compromise without legal recognition. However, looking at the ultimate outcome of the divorce, it contradicts the assumption that the woman was in a weak position and eventually compromised.

Based on Yuzuru Hanyu’s current expression, another possibility is that the woman dominated the relationship.

And initially, I really believed in this tendency.

The reason is that I have encountered several boys similar to Yuzuru Hanyu in the past, who, no matter their appearance or personality traits, had many similarities and seemed like shining stars loved by ordinary girls. However, they often preferred older sister types, even those who were more prominent in terms of family background and personal abilities than their own.

This hidden personal aesthetics is a surprising commonality.

Because they have ambition and are proud, they admire strength.

Although they enjoy the affection of average girls, at the same time, they feel a faint disdain and contempt towards these ordinary girls, perhaps even without realizing it.

But when they encounter stronger older sister types, from the perspective of interests and emotional traits, they would make this choice.

But mature/powerful older sister types often clash with their truly proud inner self, and having an older sister type woman, while making them proud, cannot satisfy their underlying desire for masculinity and narcissism.

So this leads to passionate love between the two, and the man feels that the woman has overall strength and decides to get married.

But soon in the marriage, they discover that their excellence and dominance cannot complement each other, but rather lead to friction and erosion. The man is also apprehensive of the woman’s part of the power, unwilling to offend her, but also not willing to actively please her with tenderness.

It is partly out of pique, partly because there is no benefit, and coupled with Yuzuru Hanyu’s declining trend in his life, his heart becomes more resentful and dissatisfied.

This is the main reason for the quick marriage and divorce.

Is it possible that Yuzuru Hanyu is gay?

Hmm, hard to say. Initially, I thought he might be into older women or have a fanboy circle. But if he is gay, from a benefit perspective, he could easily have a biological child through other means without having to give the “child’s mother” the title of a “one-time wife.”

From a benefit perspective, I don’t think it’s significant.

These are the classifications based on the three situations above.

I think there is a 60-70% probability for the first situation where the woman is pregnant and uses it as a half-threat, half-going-with-the-flow and they get married. (But in the end, maybe they secretly have a child after the divorce, or maybe a miscarriage leads to the failure of the marriage-child transaction, hard to say.)

There is an 80% probability for the second situation where the woman is strong overall and dominant in the relationship, similar to a powerful older sister type.

At least compared to the first situation, there won’t be any contradictions. (Contradictions refer to the assumption in the first situation where the woman got married because of the pregnancy and then the man quickly divorced.)

The third situation is not impossible, but the benefits are not significant. Based on Yuzuru Hanyu’s current actions, I don’t think he had planned it that way.

Moreover, it is more likely that when he got married, he did not intend to get divorced so quickly.

Perhaps there were unexpected changes in the marriage, such as a miscarriage or genuine incompatibility between the couple, which led to the decision to separate under calculated considerations.

This explains the logic.

In other words, looking at this outcome, no matter how we analyze it without any benefits or even losses in terms of fans and public image, it can only be concluded that he didn’t plan it this way initially.

Furthermore, I would like to add a few points:

① Whether they are celebrities or figure skaters, they are essentially commodities shining on a glamorous stage.

Regardless of the admiration/adoration/appreciation/projection/admiration/imagination that fans or onlookers have for this commodity, once you peel away this facade, they are just ordinary people.

Ordinary people, or ordinary mortals, have their own flaws and shortcomings.

A person who achieves great success in competitions, careers, or scientific research does not necessarily excel in handling marriage and emotions. It does not mean that those qualities of understanding, tolerance, humility, and goodness are present in them.

I have seen some former fans of Yuzuru Hanyu saying that he used to be ambitious, full of desires and vitality, and he burned himself to achieve artistic excellence on the ice with his love for skating, compassion, and awe. But later, they gradually realized that he was actually a “selfish, cold, and opportunistic utilitarian,” “always using his own emotional wounds to gain sympathy,” and even his recent competition results have been disappointing, eventually leading to retirement.

When I see these disillusioned people expressing anger, disappointment, and grief, what I want to say is that Yuzuru Hanyu may have always been Yuzuru Hanyu.

All his beauty and ugliness, perhaps, are attributes assigned to him by others' perspectives.

At the same time, these traits on him have been given different meanings due to adversity and prosperity.

The same trait, his ambition and drive, led him to strive for greatness, which is what people love about him. On the other hand, it may imply self-centeredness, greed, and the desire for everyone’s attention and spotlight.

Times and circumstances have given them the opportunity to become famous.

In terms of achievements alone, he has already achieved fame at a young age and has attracted attention during his peak moments. These achievements and abilities are related to his career, not his handling of emotions and relationships.

There is no need to feel disappointed or angry because of this.

② Yuzuru Hanyu’s annual earnings are no longer limited to that of a national-level athlete.

So, as I mentioned earlier, when we look at his actions, we shouldn’t view them from a moral or emotional standpoint. The capital he represents and the behind-the-scenes interests are driven by profit.

I have noticed that many people have not pointed this out.

Before the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Yuzuru Hanyu received a fee of at least 65 million Japanese yen (approximately 3.61 million yuan) for a short-term advertisement.

If he signs a one-year endorsement contract, the fee is over 100 million Japanese yen (approximately 5.56 million yuan).

According to ESPN,

After winning the gold medal at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Yuzuru Hanyu’s annual income in 2019 reached a staggering 13.41 million US dollars.

Note, that’s in US dollars.

He ranked 70th among all athletes in the world that year and was the only figure skater to make it onto the Top 100 Athletes list.

And a athlete’s commercial value can be intuitively reflected in the number and quality of endorsements they receive.

According to Japanese organization nanasepn’s statistics,

Yuzuru Hanyu’s annual income in 2021 was at least 800 million Japanese yen (approximately 44.05 million yuan).

Of this, over 600 million Japanese yen (approximately 3.3 million yuan) comes from endorsements, while competition winnings and subsidies are estimated to be only 10 million Japanese yen (approximately 550,000 yuan).

Moreover, based on incomplete statistics from “21st Century Business Review,” as of February 2022, Yuzuru Hanyu had endorsements from 13 brands. These brands include Toyama Pharmaceuticals, Monster Hunter, Sekkisei, Seiko, Pantene, Procter & Gamble, Ajinomoto, Lotte chewing gum, Lotte folders, Lotte chocolates, Hotani, Tokyo Seikawa bedding, and Baku Links, covering industries such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, watches, food, and consumables.

In the 2021 annual advertisement endorsement fee ranking for male entertainers in Japan, Yuzuru Hanyu ranked 9th.

In addition to these huge endorsements, Yuzuru Hanyu’s sources of income include performances, merchandising, royalties, business partnerships, competition winnings, etc. Taking 2021 as an example, according to nanasepn’s calculation, Yuzuru Hanyu’s annual income was at least 800 million Japanese yen (approximately 44 million yuan), with over 670 million Japanese yen (approximately 3.3 million yuan) coming from endorsement fees, and competition winnings and subsidies accounting for only 10 million Japanese yen (approximately 550,000 yuan).

With this scale, he is no longer just a national-level athlete; he is more like a handsome Japanese male celebrity with a graceful appearance, a gentle figure, and special talents.

Even if he is impulsive, the capital behind him and his family probably wouldn’t allow him to be impulsive.

So, I am more inclined to analyze his quick marriage and divorce from the perspective of interests rather than emotions. Perhaps he originally wanted to find a woman with outstanding family background in various aspects, but they simply had incompatible personalities and had no choice but to get divorced. It is not impossible.

Otherwise, an ordinary girl from an ordinary family would not have been able to make him make such a major decision regarding his life.

As for the official reasons given, let’s just listen to them.

Also, let me talk about something unrelated to the topic.

When I saw the news push notification on my phone on November 17th announcing Yuzuru Hanyu’s divorce, I was really surprised.

On November 18th, I saw a post on Zhihu and decided to search more about it. I discovered that he was born in December 1994, which means he is actually six years older than me.

In my memory, I saw him on TV when I was in my early teens, and I always thought he was the same age as me or even younger because he looked so young.

Then I looked at his Twitter.

August 4, 2023, Yuzuru Hanyu announced his marriage on social media. On November 17th, Yuzuru Hanyu announced his divorce.

I also watched his performances on the ice, such as “Seimei,” “LGC: Parisienne Walkways,” “Phantom of the Opera.”

The lights shining, ribbons swirling.

In my heart, there is actually a sense of regret.

What is the elegance of a startled swan, graceful as a wandering dragon.

What is the dance that plays with shadows, as though it is among us in the mortal world.

His soft and reverent kiss to the ice, the beautiful Biellmann spin. The spin where he lifts one leg and bends it over his head from behind, forming a droplet shape with his entire body.

Truly feels like an otherworldly beauty.

What a pity. Beautiful people and things don’t last forever.

Those obsessions, entanglements, fixations, and obsessions,

Are all just a big song, a dream coming to an end.

Divorce Decision

I must give my response to this wave.

Well, this statement has made me even more determined to retire.

Firstly, he has been a public figure for quite some time now, with nearly 20 years of celebrity experience. He shouldn’t have underestimated the power of the Japanese media and paparazzi, especially since he chose not to reveal his wife’s identity. Any harassment that he claims to be unable to endure should have been anticipated at the moment he made the decision to get married. He didn’t even release a statement condemning the paparazzi, he just went straight for a divorce. Truly ruthless when it comes to love.

Secondly, assuming the first point isn’t valid, meaning that they indeed didn’t anticipate the craziness of the paparazzi, the solution is to get a divorce? How is that any different from having stomach pain so you remove your entire stomach… They could have chosen to move, use legal protection, or hire bodyguards… Of course, these solutions may have their own flaws, but all in all, isn’t it more normal for a couple to face these issues together? At this point, fans and friends might say, “But you can’t even step outside your own house, how can you handle it?” Of course, I couldn’t handle it. But does getting a divorce solve the problem? It might even increase the paparazzi’s interest in the ex-wife rather than the current wife. After all, the hype around their marriage had already waned, but now, with the divorce, the topic is once again being brought up…

Thirdly, the paparazzi have driven them to divorce, Mrs. Yuzuru, uh, no, the ex-Mrs. Yuzuru, her identity is still a mystery, isn’t that strange? It’s possible they used money to suppress any announcements, but the paparazzi wouldn’t be so kind-hearted… They can track, approach to such an extent, yet they don’t reveal the lady’s identity, not even a single photo. Do they have something on their minds…? Some fans say that Japanese paparazzi are crazy, is this it? To put it bluntly, their capability seems rather poor (Disclaimer: This doesn’t mean I’m excusing the paparazzi, their behavior deserves condemnation, I’m just pointing out that the current situation doesn’t seem quite logical).

Fourthly, public figures marrying ordinary people, not just in Japan, but all over the world, isn’t he the only one? But is he the only one divorcing for this reason? Quite unique, huh?

Fifthly, some fans will definitely say, how do you know it wasn’t the woman who initiated the divorce? Of course, we can’t rule out that possibility, it might even be quite likely, but at the same time, did this lady underestimate Yuzuru’s influence and the attention-grabbing nature of being Yuzuru’s wife before getting married? It can only be said that she’s either too fragile or not loving enough…

After retiring, I’ve never used negative words to criticize Yuzuru Hanyu, but this time, I don’t want to hold back: he lacks commitment, immaturity, an inclination to avoid responsibility, and treats fans like fools (and indeed, some fans do fall for it). He’s nearly 30 years old, yet he treats marriage like a game of pretend, whether it’s getting married or getting divorced, it gives me the feeling he’s trying hard to distance himself. When getting married: “I just got married, my fans (leeks), don’t go away”; when getting divorced: “It’s all the paparazzi’s fault, they cornered me into taking this extreme action, condemn them quickly.”

Perhaps he is indeed more suited to being “alone,” whether it’s in his career or his marriage. That image of his can continue to flourish now.

Reading xiaohongshu (a Chinese social media platform) at night made me laugh…

He didn’t choose figure skating over all of you, he chose figure skating over himself.

If this relationship was strong enough, would they choose divorce as the last resort?

Would an ordinary person engage in flash-in-the-pan marriages and divorces like him? Since he chose this path and chose not to go public, he should have been prepared to not be an ordinary person.

I still believe that the negative evaluations of Yuzuru are fueled by jealousy of his excellence and dissatisfaction with one’s own mediocrity… He is outstanding in figure skating, but in his marriage, he truly seems lacking in intelligence.

Firstly, you should be concerned about your own mental state, darling.

Also, there are fans crying all night long for his sake, it’s hard to imagine that I once took pride in being a fan of his.

Yuzuru Hanyu, you shouldn’t have ended up like this.