Jensen Huang and the Alleged Chinese Spy: Why History Keeps Blaming Women When Powerful Men Fall
Here's a line you may have seen attached to this story: "Empires, wars and big things fall into ruins at the hands of women."
It's being used to explain what happened with Jensen Huang. And I understand why it spreads. It sounds wise. It sounds like history.
But I've read a bit of history. And I think that line gets it exactly backwards.
Let me explain. First, the facts, carefully, because this is a serious story.
What we actually know
The New York Times reported in late October that US intelligence officials believed Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman also known as Huang Le, was spying for Beijing. She was formerly managing director of Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data centre company that has had dealings with Nvidia.
On 8 November, Jensen Huang sent a message to Nvidia staff. He wrote: "I was unfaithful to my wife." He also said: "There is no excuse for what I did."
Nvidia's board has opened an independent investigation with outside counsel. The company says it has no reason to believe its secrets or national security were compromised.
China has rejected the claims, calling them groundless and a smear.
US President Donald Trump said the FBI is looking into it, and that Huang told him he had no idea the woman was a spy.
Nvidia's shares fell about 8% at Monday's open, according to the BBC.
What we don't know is just as important. It remains unclear what, if anything, was passed on, and the espionage allegations are just that: allegations. No charges have been reported.
The oldest story in the world
Now to that line. Because it isn't new. It's one of the oldest stories humans tell.
Helen of Troy. A whole war, a whole city burnt, and the story remembers her face. Not the kings who chose to sail. Not the men who chose to fight for ten years.
Cleopatra. Remembered as the seductress who ruined Mark Antony. A lot of that image came from Roman propaganda written by Antony's rivals. A queen who spoke many languages and ran a kingdom became, in the retelling, mainly a temptation.
Mata Hari. The ultimate "female spy" legend. France executed her in 1917 as a German agent. Many historians now believe the evidence was thin, and that a country losing a war needed someone to blame. A dancer was easier to shoot than a general's mistake.
The Profumo affair, 1963. A British war minister, a young woman named Christine Keeler, and a Soviet naval attaché. The minister lied to Parliament. Yet for years the story was told as if she were the scandal.
And we have our own version. In the classical Sanskrit play Mudrarakshasa, a vishakanya, a "poison maiden", is sent to kill Chandragupta Maurya. Even our folklore built a whole category of woman as a weapon.
Do you see the pattern?
In every one of these stories, a powerful man makes a choice. And the story we pass down blames the woman nearby.
That's not history. That's how history gets edited.
The honey-trap story is comfortable because it lets power off the hook. The man becomes the victim of a temptation, instead of an adult who made a decision. "She seduced him" sounds so much softer than "he chose this".
Bollywood loves this trope too
Think of every spy thriller with the glamorous woman in the hotel bar, the drink, the stolen file. The "honey trap" is a stock Hindi film scene.
It's why Raazi hit so hard. Sehmat was a spy, yes. But the film gave her fear, grief and a conscience. She wasn't a trap. She was a person. That's rarer than it should be.
Back to Jensen
Here's the thing I keep coming back to. Jensen Huang himself didn't blame anyone else. He wrote that there was no excuse, that his actions hurt his family, and that he had fallen short of his responsibility.
Whatever the investigations find about Alice Huang, those words are his. The choice was his.
If she turns out to be an intelligence operative, that's a serious national security story, and it should be investigated properly. But it still won't make the line true. Spy agencies have used romance as a tool for centuries precisely because they know men in power make choices, and sometimes bad ones.
My take
"Empires fall at the hands of women" is a lazy sentence pretending to be a deep one.
Empires fall because of arrogance, greed, bad decisions, and people who think the rules don't apply to them. Sometimes there's a woman in the story. Far more often, there's a man who thought he was untouchable.
So when you see that quote this week, ask a simpler question: who made the decision? The answer is usually the one person the quote conveniently forgets.
For more on how stories get rewritten over time, read our piece on what Ramayana: Part 1 changed from Valmiki.
Frequently asked questions
What happened with Jensen Huang?
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admitted in a message to staff that he was unfaithful to his wife, after reports that he had a relationship with Alice Huang, a businesswoman US intelligence officials reportedly believe was a Chinese spy. Nvidia's board has opened an independent investigation.
Who is Alice Huang?
Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, is a former managing director of Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed. China has denied the spying allegations, calling them a smear.
Is Nvidia investigating Jensen Huang?
Yes. Nvidia's board announced an independent investigation on 8 November 2026. The company said it had no reason to believe its secrets or national security were compromised.
Was Mata Hari really a spy?
Mata Hari was executed by France in 1917 as a German spy, but many historians now believe the case against her was weak and that she was made a scapegoat.
Vishal Waghela is the Co-Founder of AltBollywood and a proud neo-generalist who refuses to pick a lane. Film, music, memes, fashion, AI, internet subcultures: if pop culture touches it, he's already three rabbit holes deep. He writes the way he lives online, loud, emotional, a little chaotic and always honest about why culture makes us feel things. Come argue with him on Instagram at @vishal.waghe1a.
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