Musical actress Choi Jung-won shared the behind-the-scenes story of her water birth.
On the 15th, Choi Jung-won and f(x) Luna, who played a mother-daughter role as Donna and Sophie in the musical 'Mamma Mia!', appeared as guests on KBS1's 'Morning Square' Tuesday talk show.
On this day, anchor Eom Ji-in expressed, "Choi Jung-won has an enormous presence. The waiting room is quiet in the morning. The moment Choi Jung-won appears, you can feel the energy," and Luna remarked, "I was taken aback. I am always consistent. Maintaining the high tension without crossing the line is quite difficult. I consider it self-management. It's not just on broadcast, but also during rehearsals in any space, there is always positive energy, a happy virus. I think this energy sets a good example for the junior actors."
Anchor Kim Jae-won expressed his admiration, saying, "Everyone knows Choi Jung-won's passion in the musical world, but I didn't expect even Luna to match the passion of a mother," and Choi Jung-won praised, "It was a song I sang with my friends, and Luna only cheered for us during the curtain call. We matched rhythms together for the first time, and I think that 20 years later, she will surely play the role of Donna."
In response, Kim Jae-won teased, "So you're saying Choi Jung-won will do it for the next 20 years?" Choi Jung-won replied, "So I will manage very well. Let's aim for the Guinness Book of World Records. Can't I do this even in my 70s? If I don't continue to age like this. But honestly, I forget my age while living. My stamina keeps improving. In the past, I only had 'strength' for dancing, but nowadays I adjust the intensity. During last season's 'Chicago,' I performed the most comfortably. Even now with 'Mamma Mia!, my condition is good every day. I feel like every day is playtime for me; how can I not have stamina in a playground? My condition improves significantly on performance days, and my theme song is 'Dancing Queen.' It feels like this lyric was born for me: 'Dance joyfully, life is great, remember, you are the best Dancing Queen, Jung-won.' I seem to repeat this often. I keep telling my daughter to engrave this on my tombstone."
Anchor Kim Jae-won cautiously asked, "Isn't Chicago a difficult role to manage at this age, what with the high heels and dancing?" Choi Jung-won replied, "But knowing that it is possible at this age fills the juniors with hopes for their future. It shows that even at 60, one can still turn and dance and kick. Of course, if a foreign company says they can't use Choi Jung-won anymore, it would be a different story. This season, I said I would only perform next time, but they told me 'You have to perform until you're 70.' I feel like it is my calling. What I do best has become what I love, and I am the happiest person in the world with a job that is such. Because I love it, I practice a bit more than others, and ever since my 20s, I have consistently exercised at the same time, and now, 30 years later, it seems to be reflected in my performances."
In particular, Luna had previously matched rhythms with Choi Jung-won in the role of Sophie in 2019. Getting to appear in 'Mamma Mia!' again was significantly due to Choi Jung-won's role. Choi Jung-won mentioned, "Recently, Luna played Ophelia in the play 'Hamlet.' When I was young, I had a dream of definitely playing Ophelia in Hamlet. I knew the emotions and lines so well that I could almost memorize them, but watching Luna as Ophelia made me think much more dimensional than I had considered how I would perform once I got on stage. After that day's performance, I told the director, 'I have a wish. Can you let me perform as Donna and Sophie with Luna just once more in Mamma Mia!?'" Choi continued, "While practicing recently, I am proud to say that I am the most perfect Sophie in the world."
Upon hearing this, Luna shed tears, stating, "I am grateful," and Choi Jung-won praised, "It's not just that she acts well; it's as if Luna has experienced everything. She is living the life of Sophie on stage, and it personally inspires me so much. Acting is a ping-pong game, how you send back the ball varies based on how the other person plays. Our chemistry works better than my daughter's."
When asked about the audition scenario for 'Mamma Mia!', Luna shared, "When I was 17, I wrote down my bucket list, and the number one work I must do in my life was 'Mamma Mia!'. As soon as I turned 20, I attended many auditions but was always turned down. When I became Sophie in 2019, I had to figure out how Greek people dress and the textures of their skin, and the hair color I should have to look like Sophie, so I studied extensively from head to toe, dressed as Sophie, and went to the audition. I believe the competition rate was 250:1 back then. Many people showed up for auditions. That day, when I walked in, I felt a strong conviction saying, 'I am Sophie' because I prepared and practiced so hard. I even prepared English lines knowing that an international director would come. Korean scripts and American humor differ, so to make it easier for the foreign director to understand, I read the humor sections in English, and they laughed a lot. Even though I wasn't perfect, they gave me a favorable view."
Afterwards, the two shared stories about their mothers. Choi Jung-won said she learned a lot of positive energy from her mother, stating, "When I asked my mom, 'Why is your skin so dark?', she said, 'Jung-won, your smile is so beautiful. Because I am dark, my teeth look white.' So when I make my friends smile, people start to like me. My habit of smiling is also thanks to my mom. My house was 30 minutes away from school, but my mom said that it was precisely because the distance was far that my legs could become like a track athlete's. The fact that I can work for a long time is also due to the strong legs and healthy habits she instilled in me." When she wanted to become a musical actress, she explained, "At that time, I was in my second year of high school. I was, in fact, preparing for university, but she said, 'Whatever you choose to do, you will surely excel.'"
Luna's mother, she revealed, is a soprano. She said, "My mother majored in vocal music and is a soprano. My father also conducts choir at church, and my biological older brother is a composer, while my twin sister is a vocalist," showcasing her musical DNA. However, as the economy collapsed during the IMF crisis, her mother had to quit singing and helped her grandmother run a blood sausage soup business. Luna expressed, "If you do business for a long time, you end up inhaling a lot of gas. I live with chronic bronchitis and when I handle the sausages, my nails turn black. I disliked that as a child. Why can't my mom's hands be as pretty as other moms? I thought like that in my young mind, but later, when I reached 6th grade and was 14, I felt pity for my mom. She is someone who sings beautifully and is bright, but she's endured so much."
She then continued, "This is why I practiced intensely. Since I was 14, I practiced without breaks while others were hanging out. I hoped that my parents wouldn't struggle and could comfortably live while achieving their dreams, and that became my greatest motivation, enabling me to grow well. My parents had both my maternal grandmother and paternal grandmother. They lived together, and my maternal grandmother passed away first. Now, my paternal grandmother is still living with us. When I turned 21, I promised them that once a year, I would take the family on a trip or at least send my parents on a vacation, and I have been keeping that promise."
Meanwhile, Choi Jung-won also expressed her gratitude towards her mother, who raised her daughter in her busy moments. Choi Jung-won shared, "In the early stages of my pregnancy, I had severe bleeding. A doctor at one hospital said that the child might be in a dangerous state, saying it seemed like the child had passed away. However, when I continued with morning sickness, I visited another hospital, and they told me the baby was alive. I was only 31 at that time. I had to study for the child. I thought that when I got pregnant, the child would just come out easily, but because I have a job that requires a lot of movement, I experienced a lot of bleeding and the risk of miscarriage, which made me focus a lot on prenatal education. Since I got pregnant just six months after marriage, except for those six months, I lived with my mother until recently. After getting pregnant, my mother came to my house to care for me and lived with me, and my child was born into the water. Until my 20s, my mother stayed home, saying, 'You perform, I will raise the child,' and with my grandmother's positive energy, she also raised my daughter."
Anchor Eom Ji-in noted, "What was sensational during that time was that many people watched women giving birth underwater," mentioning the live coverage of water births. Choi Jung-won asked, "How did you make that decision?" She responded, "First of all, due to the risky situation, I thought I should study birthing methods and prenatal education myself. Rather than relying on hospitals, I studied methods like Lamaze breathing and how the skull overlaps several times during birth, and why amniotic fluid is released."
She continued, "Around 1998, on KBS 'Challenge Earth Exploration,' they asked me if I would challenge myself to complete a tap dance course for six months in New York. I lived in New York for a month. During that process, I became close with an actress performing in 'Cats.' She was truly beautiful, with a slim and flexible body. One day, she came in holding her six-month-old baby and sat down to warm up, saying it was her baby. Looking at her, nobody would have thought it was someone who had just given birth six months prior. When I asked if she really gave birth, she said she had a water birth, and many musical actresses do it. I remember her saying the recovery is fast and it's also good for the baby. That's when I thought, 'I should have a water birth in New York.' Then I got contacted by SBS, asking, 'Would it be okay to film a natural birth since not many mothers do it?' I mentioned I wanted a water birth, and they said that they had already filmed underwater births in Germany, Japan, and Switzerland. So they suggested working with a reputable teacher in Korea."
When asked if she watched the video with her daughter, she replied, "I didn't show it to her. I wanted to explain on the day she started her period that from now on, she is a woman who can have children. I planned to discuss it educationally then, and when my child started her first period in middle school, I sat my child's grandmother and myself down to watch it together. Although the broadcast station didn't air it, they edited one and a half hours of concentrated filming beautifully for family viewing. There were detailed videos. After watching the video, my daughter cried at the end, and I said, 'I gave birth to you like this.' Then her grandmother watched herself in the footage for over an hour while I was just looking at the baby, but my daughter seemed to give all her attention to her grandmother. My mother gave birth to me, you see. Knowing the pain of childbirth, she was breathing along with me, and even though the camera was focused on her, she was visibly enduring it without saying a word."
That mother passed away suddenly in her sleep. Choi Jung-won recounted, "The day before, my mother was saying that her phone wasn't working well while playing the Go-Stop game, and having bought her a new phone for about five years, I said I would truly replace it and switched it out the day before. I saw her face and even shared a meal, but the next day, I was in Changwon for the 'Chicago' performance and received the news. I couldn't believe it; she was so healthy."
While alive, her mother said, "Even if I die, you must perform on the performance day. I want to see your performance," but upon hearing the news of her mother's death, Choi Jung-won remarked, "It felt like my body suddenly became paralyzed," explaining the situation when she could not participate in the 'Chicago' performance. However, she noted, "The following day for 'Hadestown,' there wasn't an actor to substitute. Everyone was performing. So we held the funeral in Seoul for one day, and on the day of the burial, I wasn't able to see her and returned to Busan to perform twice, crying so much that my voice didn't return until dawn. But during the performance, I felt so light, as if I had become a bird, and the show went incredibly well. After that, I was able to complete the performance successfully."
Lee Kwang-ki expressed, "It was thanks to my mother being there," and Choi Jung-won said, "I still remember the feelings I experienced on stage that day. My body felt so light, and since that day, my condition seems to have improved a bit. I didn't cry, but when the news reached the orchestra team and co-stars, they saw me performing stoically without being captured by emotions and encouraged me."
Upon hearing this, anchor Kim Jae-won remarked, "Hearing both of your life stories makes me think 'Mamma Mia!' will be even more enjoyable," and asked, "Who would you recommend it to? It would make a great gift for mothers and daughters." Choi Jung-won responded, "(For mothers and daughters) it's very nice, and I think it would also be great for friends. There are many mother-daughter stories, but there are also tales of friendship and trio stories. In the past, someone told me after seeing the performance, 'Let's go on a trip tomorrow,' and they went traveling. Families are likely to enjoy it, and lately, younger friends who watched 'Mamma Mia!' have also expressed aspirations to become actors."
[Photo] KBS1
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