As the likes of Paris Hilton can attest, it sometimes takes more than a sex tape to end a career.
Anyone seeking further proof need look no further than craggy-faced doctor-turned-politician Dr Chua Soi Lek, who has bounced back from a lurid scandal to become president of the Malaysian Chinese Association, the country's biggest Chinese political party.
Chua was health minister and MCA vice-president in 2007 when his political enemies secretly video-taped and distributed DVDs of him having sex with a young woman - not his wife - in a hotel room. The scale of the campaign to taint Chua was extensive; motorcycle couriers dropped off envelopes of the incriminating discs to media organisations, and the DVDs were hot sellers in street markets.
Forced into an embarrassing public admission of sin with a woman he described only as a 'personal friend', Chua apologised and resigned from all party and government posts.
But in the intervening years he made an unexpected comeback, culminating in last Sunday's victory, with MCA delegates accepting him as the man who just might save the party from oblivion.
'He made a mistake, he apologised and his wife also forgave him. We accept him back as leader, as MCA president,' said Daniel Tan, an MCA delegate giving voice to the general mood in the party.