BEIJING (AP) ― Star Chinese director Zhang Yimou has admitted to flouting his country’s strict family planning rules by having three children with his wife, but rejected rumors that he had fathered seven children with several women.

Zhang’s office issued an open letter through its verified microblog account on China’s equivalent to Twitter, Sina Weibo, saying the director and his wife, Chen Ting, have two sons and a daughter.

This is the first time Zhang has responded to reports that circulated online in May that the director of “The Flowers of War,” starring Christian Bale, had seven children from two marriages and relationships with two other women.

The letter says Zhang and his wife were willing to accept an investigation by the family planning committee in Chen’s hometown, the eastern city of Wuxi.