Vietnamese celebrities and show-off habit VietNamNet Bridge – Big houses, fancy cars, luxury dresses, precious jewelries have become the measure of the “ranking” of Vietnamese celebrities. Diem My and her Audi. "Finally, I have bought an Audi.” This is the status on Facebook page of young actress Diem My, attached with a photo featuring the girl sitting in her brand new, milky white car, with a satisfactory and proud smile. If this young actress can afford to buy a new Audi A4 worth hundreds of thousands of US dollars, many big celebrities in the local showbiz may be jealous because Diem My is only 22, recently graduated from the University of Foreign Trade. She was first known as a “hotgirl” and was recently “upgraded” into an actress after playing supporting roles in several TV series and some movies for the lunar New Year 2013. In the last couple of years, a new trend appears in the showbiz: celebrities showing off their wealth. Sometimes, this show-off also brings about sudden reputation for them.   Vy Oanh and her $350,000 car. For example, last year, Vy Oanh was still unknown when she was a MC in local TV station. Suddenly, she showed off her 7 billion VND new S500 Blue Efficiency car on newspaper. Singer and MC Vy Oanh is a typical example. Over one year ago, people did not know who she was. At that time she was an MC for a local TV station. But the girl has become famous after she showing her S500 Blue Efficiency car worth VND7 billion ($350,000) on a local newspaper. The showbiz was stirred because of the wealth of an unknown singer. After that, Vy Oanh announced to invest over VND1 billion ($50,000) in her new music videos entitled “Green field” and “Fly”. Vy Oanh also disclosed that she spent VND500 million ($25,000) for the debut of her new album. Thanks to showing off her wealth, the young singer has become popular on the media. She is employed as the host of a big reality show on the national TV channel VTV3. Singer Thuy Tien is another example. She is a “hot” singer in the market and has an admirable love affair with the most famous football player in Vietnam – Le Cong Vinh. These things, plus Thuy Tien’s dizzying change of her beauty -- thanks to plastic surgeries, are enough to make her a star. But she became hotter than ever when she appeared with luxury items in the appropriate time. When the rumor had she was engaged with Cong Vinh, she shocked the public by showing a VND4 billion ($200,000) watch, which was said a unique gift from her boyfriend. She also disclosed to buy a VND3 billion ($150,000) new car.   Thuy Tien and her $200,000 watch. Most recently, many local newspapers wrote about Thuy Tien’s re-appearance after giving birth and took pictures of her with her VND4 billion ($200,000) Audi when she drove it to the theater where she was a guest judge of the “Dancing with the Star 2013” reality show.  But Thuy Tien and Diem My cannot compare with actress Ly Nha Ky for the “skills” to be famous through show off tricks. Ly Nha Ky’s reputation today has mainly been built by scandals and her show-off tricks. Last year, at the opening ceremony of her diamond shop, she wore a $40,000 gown by Alexander McQueen. Other jewelry that she used at this event is totaled VND7 billion ($350,000). The most expensive item is a VND6 billion ($300,000) Piaget watch.   Ly Nha Ky in her $100,000 dress. In another event, she showed the jewelry worth more than VND12 billion ($600,000). Again, in a later event, Ly Nha Ky wore items worth about VND10 billion ($500,000). Most recently, Ly Nha Kho showed her $100,000 Chanel dress and said she may wear it only once. Many people commented that it is good if you are rich and you also have the right to buy and to wear anything you want, if you have money. But in a poor country like Vietnam and especially in the current economic downturn, it is not good for showing off that way. That's very offensive.  However, now if they don’t show off their wealth, they will lose the chance to be famous.  T. Van