He had it all – a devoted wife, a beautiful family, success, money and a thriving career.
But when celebrity dentist Steven Lin was shot dead by police in inner-city Sydney this week, the brutal end to his life didn’t come as much of a surprise to those who knew him best.
His ex-wife and mother of five of his children, Cassandra Lin, had spent years suffering betrayal and humiliation at the hands of her former husband, who had descended into an out-of-control meth addiction.
According to colleagues, the disgraced doctor was the talk of the industry, was rumoured to have fathered a secret child by an affair, and even tried his hand at being a male escort for a period.
Friends say that, while his downfall eventually played out in the headlines, the reality behind closed doors was even darker.
Shamefully, it is claimed he hosted wild sex parties fuelled by drugs, all while his unsuspecting wife was at home with the children. It is not suggested Cassandra Lin had any knowledge of her husband’s illicit activities.
‘She had her hands full with five under five when he started to unravel,’ a friend of Cassandra’s told the Daily Mail.
‘It was relentless for her and only got worse – police, AVOs, sex workers, assaults.
Cassandra Lin and her late husband, celebrity dentist Steven Lin, had five children and shared a business – but he was leading a shameful double life
A friend of Cassandra’s said she had only recently started ‘coming out the other side’ after discovering her husband’s litany of betrayals before he was shot dead by police on Tuesday. (The Lins are pictured in happier times)
‘Not only did she lose her husband, but they were business partners too, and the pressure of all that was insane.
‘It would probably break most people, but she is just the strongest, most resilient person you will ever meet.
‘It’s only been recently that she was coming out the other side really.
‘She was easing back to work, sold their former family home and moved to have a bit of a fresh start and then she gets a call to say he is dead, shot by police after assaulting two women he didn’t even know.
‘It’s sad because of the children. He is still their dad and one day they will find out what happened, but honestly it comes with a sense of relief, because this man was out of control.’
Lin died after being shot during a tense stand-off with police in Potts Point on Tuesday morning.
Police say the dentist entered an apartment building on St Neot Avenue armed with a knife before attacking one woman in a communal laundry and another inside her unit.
He was killed after he lunged at police officers who were trying to apprehend him following the violent assaults.
The couple had welcomed twins – but just days after their first birthday, Mr Lin was caught in a shocking act behind a Central Coast brothel
Former colleagues say the disgraced doctor was the talk of the industry, was rumoured to have fathered a secret child after an affair, and even tried his hand at being a male escort for a period
Lin had a history of shocking crimes.
On September 7, 2024, Lin had been found semi-naked, mumbling and sweating profusely behind Sweet Secrets, a brothel on the NSW Central Coast.
Sex workers, who say Lin had visited the brothel earlier that evening, ‘were woken to a noise in the rear patio area’ and saw Lin damaging a clothesline.
They called police, who arrived soon after to find Lin with what appeared to be faeces in his mouth, having ripped a waste pipe from the brick wall.
The oral health specialist ‘was semi-clothed and in a dishevelled state [and] appeared to be affected by drugs’.
The incident took place just days after Lin’s twins turned one on August 31.
But while Ms Lin shared happy snaps of her husband tenderly cradling their babies, friends say behind closed doors he was spiralling into a secret double life.
There were rumours of his infidelity, with several women claiming they were being harassed by Lin, who wanted them to come to sex parties he was organising.
Cassandra Lin sold the family home and moved up the coast after she almost lost everything due to her dentist husband’s drug addiction and criminal behaviour
Cassandra’s friend told the Daily Mail she is ‘strong’ and ‘resilient’
‘He was organising orgies while his wife was at home feeding the kids,’ said a friend of Cassandra.
‘He just didn’t care. She was devastated when all that came out and so embarrassed by it all.
‘Cass grew up in the Central Coast and that was the reason they opened their businesses here. She is well-known, they were a power couple, and then he became the talk of the town – and eventually the entire country.
‘There were even some photos doing the rounds of him having a crack at being a gigolo at one point.’
In January last year, three months after her husband was apprehended at the brothel, Ms Lin wrote a post on Instagram about what she’d been going through.
‘It’s been a journey that you couldn’t make up,’ she said.
‘Each week, a new revelation, a new story, a new trauma, a new discovery of the depth and level of actions that there are just no words for.’
‘The betrayal, the abuse, the violence, the deception two years of a kind of hell that only happens in movies, that you couldn’t possibly make up even if you were attempting to write a really hectic movie that would leave the viewer in a serious state of bewilderment and shock.’
She also added that, despite everything, she would continue to make their children a priority.
‘I continue to hold on to the important things in life, to show up for my babies and remain their rock, their constant. With time, recovery and healing from trauma is possible,’ she wrote.
Last year, Lin recorded four breaches of bail, two assault offences and two choking offences.
Days before his death, he appeared in court accused of choking and assaulting a prostitute and stealing $2,000 from her in March 2025, but the charges were dropped when the woman failed to appear.
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