Explanation/context of a joke (grocery store scene)

I was flicking through this film recently when I noticed an interesting part, a part I didn't pay much attention to the last times I watched the movie.

The grocery scene is about 40 minutes into the movie (full uncut version, butchered version might be different). The exchange between Stephen Chow, the soccer coach, and fat small brother goes like this (paraphrased because it might defer by subtitle/dubtitle):

Chow and the coach are trying to convince small bro to play soccer. He refuses citing his obesity and shows a photo of his younger slimmer days.

Small bro: "I can't even get a date/girl (let alone play soccer) looking the way I do now. You don't know what it's like for me."

Chow (who I suspect is faking empathy because he ain't bad looking at all [I say this in a non-homo way], and at the very least, he has the interest of the acne-ridden girl): "Sure I do. I can't get dates/girls either!"

Small bro: "Really? I've read stories about your dates in the newspapers and magazines."

Chow (maybe showing surprise or disapproval): "What papers and magazines?"

Small bro: "Sorry."

Before I make my point, let us divert our attention to a different Hong Kong superstar: Jackie Chan. If you've been on Reddit recently, you may have noticed how, due to someone's/some people's posts, a decent amount of Redditors have realised that the image of Chan in the West (awesome, funny, butt-kicking, nice guy) isn't necessarily the same way he is perceived in his hometown Hong Kong. Perhaps quite the contrary, he is perceived negatively (or partly negatively) for various reasons, and the Hong Kong tabloids (who I understand are particularly savage and cruel though I have no personal experience to confirm this since I don't live there) are very happy to amplify the Chan's negative publicity and controversy to sell their papers.

So I'm guessing this is what this exchange is about. It's Chow's way of acknowledging what the tabloids are saying about him in real life and to make a joke out of it. Obviously it doesn't make sense if applied to Chow's character living in the movie world. I would be interested to know what exactly were the tabloids saying at this point in time (so 2000 and/or 2001) that "forced" Chow's directorial hand. Any Hong Kong IMDBers out there?

Unfortunately, information about Chow in general is hard to find in the English Internet. Off topic but it's too bad he didn't really become famous in the West, I mean, really famous. It seemed like it was going to happen with the international success of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle but then it fizzled out. I blame the marketing on this - instead of promoting him as a Jet Li/Jackie Chan-style action star like they did in his interviews at the time, they should have expressed his comedic side. I mean, that's what Chow is. The comedian. The hilarity. At the very least, refer to him as the Hong Kong Jim Carrey (or other suitable similar in comedic style Western comedians dead or alive, the names of whom escape me right now, you know who I mean - Charlie Chapman for one perhaps?). But I digress.

Getting back to public perceptions, Chow is very similar to Chan: he also has differing private and public images and his own fair share of controversies. Apparently, Chow, privately, is basically the opposite of what you would expect him to be. He is very reserved, quiet almost, with a serious expression as he speaks. I also understand that he is quite the lady's man, and that, I am completely unsurprised by. So with that much interaction with the female sex (or more precisely, the interaction of the females with him), would prove to be fodder for the tabloids, and hence the reason for this thread.

I also posted this thread on the Asian Cinema board: http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000031/flat/256246784