TAIWANESE actress Barbie Hsu says there is nothing going on in her love life, but that she is perfectly happy to have it that way.

"My love life is now completely empty," Hsu, 31, said serenely in an interview with my paper yesterday.

In January, she and Taiwanese pop idol Vic Chou broke up after dating for 2½ years. She was also recently linked to American-born Taiwan actor/singer Peter Ho, but both have denied a romance.

To fill the void in her life, Hsu is throwing herself into work. She appears in the new Benny Chan movie Connected, a remake of the 2004 Hollywood flick starring Kim Basinger.

She was in town to promote the movie at Orchard Cineleisure. "The joy I get from my work is unprecedented. I feel very free and happy, and I'm really enjoying life now," said Hsu, who adds that kids or marriage are not on her radar at all.

Hsu has gone all out for Connected, taking on stunts in the film. She was thrown against some wooden boards while being strangled for a scene, after which her neck became bruised and swollen. But she is determined to put up a tough-girl exterior.

"If I were asked to play such a role again, I would," she said.

The tough-girl act extends to her real life too, where she's taken up boxing and weightlifting. "When I'm not working, I'm exercising," she said. "I want to be a musclewoman."

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