Actor Jung Il-woo opened up about everything from a car accident, battling a brain aneurysm, to the tears he shed on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. He shared the twists and turns of a life he has never passed through easily, conveying a deep resonance.
On the 7th, during the broadcast of KBS2TV's entertainment program Problem Child in House, Jung Il-woo expressed his honest feelings.
That day, Jung Il-woo began, "Before the audition for High Kick, I experienced short-term memory loss due to a car accident." He stated, "I was hospitalized for four and a half months. When I was discharged, I was 180 cm tall and weighed 52 kg," surprising everyone. Jung Il-woo also shared, "I had a crack in my pelvis. It was 'High Kick,' so I was scolded for not being able to kick, but I had already hidden the fact that I had an accident since I had passed the audition," revealing the desperate situation at the time.
At the age of 27, another shock came to him: the diagnosis of a brain aneurysm. He confessed, "It felt like I was living with a ticking time bomb in my head. I secluded myself for a month, falling into a deep depression, pondering 'How should I live my life?'"
He eventually headed to the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage to find a direction in life. "I prepared for six months before setting out. I once walked 49 km in a day on that path. It was incredibly hard, but I was the happiest," he recalled. He mentioned that he has walked the pilgrimage three times so far, and he plans to set out once more to walk with friends and his mother, who is approaching retirement.
Jung Il-woo, whose memory of shedding tears during the cathedral mass is still vivid, said, "I cried so much that I didn't even know why. Foreigners came over to check if I was okay. But after crying like that, my heart was calmly organized."
Life has definitely changed after the pilgrimage. Jung Il-woo noted, "As an actor, there's always someone waiting for my proposal, so I felt impatience and anxiety. But after completing the pilgrimage, my mindset changed to enjoying and being grateful for reality," adding, "Now, I am thankful for everything." He reflected, "Santiago was the happiest time of my life. I went there to empty my mind, but I ended up filling it with so much more," and remarked, "I hope anyone who has the time can go at least once," leaving a deep impression.
[Photo] Problem Child in House 2, OSEN DB
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