Li Chuyus mother the Empress Wenmu was favored by her husband even after he took other consorts.

On one occasion, she told him: In response, Emperor Qianfei selected 30 young handsome men for her, calling them her mianshou (面首, literally meaning "prime faces"), for them to be her lovers.

Even before he actually took the throne, however, he issued an edict in the name of Liu Chuyu's grandmother Grand Empress Dowager Lu Huinan, condemning her for her immorality and her other younger brother Liu Zishang (劉子尚) the Prince of Yuzhang of violence, and ordering them both to die by suicide.

While Li Chuyu and her husband did not have any children together, when He Ji and his concubine Songs daughter He Jingying became the wife of the crown prince Xiao Zhaoye Li Chuyu was posthumously honored as mother-in-law.

In 2018 in the drama Untouchable Lovers Guan Xiaotong[7] portrayed Liu Chuyu