Actor Jeon Won-ju visited her alma mater, Sookmyung Women's University, for the first time in about 60 years, recalling her school days with tears welling up. Her candid confession that she wanted to personally prove her academic background, which had long been overshadowed by her fixed image of playing "housemaid roles," is resonating.
On the 16th, a video titled "First reveal in 63 years. Former teacher Jeon Won-ju's Sookmyung Women's University transcript revealed" was posted on Jeon Won-ju's YouTube channel.
In the video, Jeon Won-ju explained why she visited her alma mater, saying, "I graduated from Sookmyung Women's University. But no one believes it. Since I kept getting cast as a housemaid, people would say, 'She probably didn't even finish high school,'" and added, "I came to show that I graduated from a university."
She also shared stories from her school days. Jeon Won-ju said, "I graduated from Duksung Girls' High School, and at the time only two of us could go to college. Back then, people only thought about marrying off daughters and didn't send them to college. My mother sent me to make me a teacher because I wasn't pretty and I was short. Sookmyung was the No. 1 candidate school for brides-to-be," she recalled.
In particular, a heartbreaking story about having to hide the fact that she graduated from college drew attention. A graduate of the Department of Korean Language and Literature, she said, "In the old days, I couldn't talk about having gone to school because I was ashamed. I worried the alumni would curse me, saying, 'You went to a good university just to wear an apron on screen,'" and as she said, "I would come here once in a while whenever things were hard," she ended up with tears in her eyes.
That day, Jeon Won-ju cheerfully explored the campus, attaching the school mascot doll to her bag and trying on a college jacket. She said, "I'm so happy. I feel 10 years younger. Sookmyung Women's University, fighting," expressing deep affection for the school.
When she discovered some low grades on the graduation and academic transcripts she checked as a memento of her visit, Jeon Won-ju joked, "It was decades ago; how does everything show up? I can't lie," turning the scene into laughter.