On public holidays, the chat groups on Red Ant’s phone are usually fairly quiet. But this past Monday (9 November), the public holiday in lieu of Deepavali, the phone kept buzzing for an unusually long time. The messages fell broadly into two themes:
“His image as the ideal modern man has collapsed.” “It’s a complete and utter collapse.”
“The honey trap has always worked, throughout history!”
Readers who follow the news can probably guess what prompted them. While Singaporeans were enjoying the public holiday, news broke that Nvidia chief executive and co-founder Jensen Huang had admitted to an extramarital affair with a woman and publicly apologised to his family and employees.
Huang is neither the first celebrity to be embroiled in an affair nor will he be the last. One reason this story has drawn so much attention is the collapse of his public image.
Where did that public image come from?
What, then, has Huang’s public image been?
Since founding Nvidia in 1993 and leading its transformation from a graphics card manufacturer into a key player in the global artificial intelligence industry, Huang has come to represent much more than a successful entrepreneur. His signature black leather jacket, confident presentations at product launches, and vision and enthusiasm when discussing the future of artificial intelligence have made him one of the most recognisable figures in technology.
He has also spoken publicly about his relationship with his parents, how his father still “nags” him, and how he met and fell in love with his wife. The couple met at university and have spent more than 40 years together. Family, too, seemed an important part of his successful life.
In many people’s eyes, then, Huang was not only successful and far-sighted, but also a good family man. That image came crashing down the moment news of his affair emerged. Some may have wondered: is this still the Jensen Huang they thought they knew?
The psychological phenomenon known as the “halo effect” may help explain this jarring contrast.
Put simply, when we think someone excels in one area, we can unconsciously extend that positive assessment to their other qualities. Someone with a successful career is easily seen as intelligent and capable of sound judgement; someone who often shares snippets of family life is readily assumed to be devoted to their family.
The problem is that these are only inferences, which may not hold true. A person’s outstanding professional achievements and the character they display in private are two different things.
Perhaps Huang’s affair came as a surprise precisely because the public had taken the “halo” of his professional success as an endorsement of his character as a whole.
Social media amplifies the halo effect
Social media has further amplified this phenomenon.
In the past, we learnt about business leaders mainly through news reports, newspaper and magazine interviews, and public speeches. Today, entrepreneurs also share glimpses of their lives on social media, showing the public a side of themselves beyond the stage.
Besides speaking at length about artificial intelligence on camera, Huang has often been photographed by the media and members of the public dining with his family. He has also been spotted visiting night markets in Taiwan with his wife. Such images make him seem more approachable. The more people see of them online, the more they may feel they know him.
But that is not the same as truly knowing someone, because what we see is only the part of themselves they choose to show.
Even if everything they share is sincere, it does not mean we know the whole person. Someone can genuinely love their family yet still make choices in their marriage that hurt them.
Besides, nobody is perfect, and public figures need not be perfect to deserve admiration. We can recognise Huang’s contributions to the technology industry without using his achievements to excuse his private conduct. Equally, a failing in his marriage need not negate his decades of business achievement.
Huang’s affair has certainly disappointed some people. But it also prompts us to reconsider: do we admire Huang himself, or a perfect image we have constructed from the glimpses of himself he has shown us?
There is nothing wrong with admiring someone’s brilliance. But that does not mean believing they have no dark side.
