A 33-year-old woman in China has sued her 61-year-old ex-lover, with whom she has eight children, after finding out he was married, South China Morning Post reported.

Before learning that her lover of 10 years had a wife, the unnamed woman, from Sichuan province in southwestern China, had built a family with him, raising five sons and three daughters, Star Video reported.

The woman, who comes from a wealthy family, met him online when she was 23, and although he lied to her about how he earned a living, decided to start a romantic relationship with him.

In the video, she shows a certificate, the validity of which is unclear, saying that they got married in 2015, after which they decided they were going to have 10 children.

“He told me that at least one of the children would be successful,” the woman said.

She then showed birth certificates which revealed the children were born in the United States to a surrogate mother.

The woman estimated that they spent more than 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million) to have five sons and three daughters.

However, her dream life was shattered last year when she discovered that the man she assumed was her “husband”, who had moved overseas, was suing her to get back all the assets he claimed he gave her.

Things got even worse when she learned that he has another wife.

The woman left him and he has to look after the eight children for the time being.

She is suing her ex-lover and his family to obtain child support of about 200,000 yuan (US$28,000) per month because she cannot afford to take care of the children.

His family replied that they could raise the children if she was willing to hand all of them over, otherwise they would seek a legal remedy.

“I can’t give my children to him,” the woman said.

She then accused him of bigamy and demanded 200 million yuan in maintenance. The case came to trial in October last year and a decision is pending.