Model Ngoc Trinh spends first night awake after receiving sentence

Model Ngoc Trinh. Photo from Ngoc Trinh's Facebook

"Everyone might assume I slept well on my first night back home, cozy in my own bed with its warm blanket and soft, familiar-smelling mattress, right?" the model posted on her Facebook Tuesday.

"In reality, I remained awake from dusk till dawn, poring over hundreds of thousands of comments filled with encouragement and expressions of love."

Ngoc Trinh expressed feeling deeply moved and surprised by the unexpected volume of support she received, which she said uplifted her spirits and helped her move past the recent difficult times.

The model was detained in October last year for investigation into charges of "disturbance of public order."

The detainment came after investigators found that Trinh had posted five videos of herself riding the large displacement motorcycles on her TikTok channel and her Facebook pages, each of which has millions of followers.

Her videos were then spread more widely online, receiving strong public criticism, police said, as she performed poses including lying and kneeling on the vehicles’ saddles while driving on roads in Thu Duc City.

Investigators determined that such content "adversely affected public order and safety," and "negatively affected young people’s lifestyle and thinking," violating the Code of Conduct for social media behaviors issued by the Ministry of Information and Communication in 2021.

An investigation also found that Trinh had not obtained a license for driving large displacement motorcycles.

She was then given a one-year suspended sentence during a Feb. 2 trial at the HCMC People’s Court for charges of "disrupting public order" and was set free afterwards with a two-year probation.

Ngoc Trinh reflected on the recent period as a chance for self-assessment.

"Life's events bring both ‘losses’ and ‘gains,’" she said. "Yet, I see this [her sentence] as a ‘gain’—it brought me more love and insight into life’s true values."

Ngoc Trinh also viewed the past events as a chance for self-reflection. She acknowledged that her recent error taught her the importance of not justifying actions merely on passion without weighing their potential effects and consequences.

Therefore, discussing her future intentions, Ngoc Trinh expressed her commitment to exert more effort in contributing positively to society.

"As a public figure, I recognize the need for greater responsibility and the importance of delivering positive messages to the younger generation," she wrote. "Moving forward, I am committed to continuous self-improvement to become the best version of myself."

Born Tran Thi Ngoc Trinh, the 35-year-old model started her modeling career in 2005 before gaining public recognition with her lingerie and swimsuit photo shoots.

She then became the title winner of the Miss Vietnam International pageant in 2011.

She made her debut as an actress in 2016 with her role in "Vong Eo 56" (Queen of the Bikini), which was based on her life, and has participated in various movie projects since then.