Hsu was 48 when she died of pneumonia after contracting influenza while on a trip with her family to Japan. Rumours of her death first spread online on Sunday and was eventually confirmed by her younger sister, Taiwanese entertainer Dee Hsu, on Monday morning, via the latter's manager. Her body was later cremated in Tokyo.

Her ex-husband Wang Xiaofei has been slammed for commenting that he missed her and should have been the one who died. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Barbie Hsu, better known as "Da S" which means "Big S," caught the flu when she visited Japan with her family during the Lunar New Year, according to her sister.