Acclaimed film director Zhang Yimou admitted in a statement Sunday that he violated China's one-child policy and said he is willing to collaborate with the investigation against him.

In May, online reports surfaced that Zhang, who dazzled the world in 2008 with his Beijing Olympic opening ceremony and movie epic "Hero", had at least seven children and could be liable for a 160 million yuan (US$26 million) fine, Xinhua reported. Yet Zhang never responded to this controversy.

On Dec. 1, Zhang released a statement through his studio's Weibo account, saying he will cooperate with authorities to address the issue.

"Zhang Yimou and wife Chen Ting have two sons and one daughter," the statement said, "They are willing to fully cooperate with authorities and accept the investigation by the Wuxi municipal family planning commission. They will bear any punishment according to national rules and regulations. They sincerely apologize to the public for any negative consequences caused by this."

But the statement also took strong stance against paparazzi, "In the last two years, some people with their own agendas sent accomplices to stalk and take photos of Zhang's children illegally. They also exposed private information such as the identity card and household registration of Zhang's family. They kept making up stories like Zhang has 'three or four women, seven or eight children' or 'several illegitimate children,' and they even said Zhang will 'award the women 10 million yuan for giving birth to a child.' All of the stories are false."

The statement said that Zhang, as a public figure, recognized the public scrutiny by the media but the false rumors have seriously affected Zhang’s normal family life. His group is collecting evidence to legally hunt down the rumor makers.

The statement said that Zhang will continue to make more good films to repay supporters.

The Wuxi family planning commission welcomed Zhang's statement. It hopes Zhang will cooperate with the investigators and submit his real annual earnings so that they can decide how much Zhang should pay in fines.

Authorities said last month they were unable to locate Zhang and had dispatched teams to track down the director and his wife.

The Wuxi family planning commission previously said they "had done everything possible to contact Zhang Yimou and Chen Ting and dispatched a work team to Beijing to look for Zhang Yimou, but failed." China's Internet users then start campaigns to help hunt down the director.

While Zhang will probably be fined, the central government said recently that it would allow couples to have a second child if one of the parents is an only child. It was the most significant relaxation of its population control system in nearly three decades.

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