Miss Korea-turned actress Son Tae-young confessed the real reason she left her husband Kwon Sang Woo alone in Korea and emigrated to the United States with her children. It turned out to be because of allegations eight years earlier that their eldest son, Lukhee, received special treatment at an awards ceremony.
Previously, Son Tae-young married actor Kwon Sang Woo in 2008, gave birth to their son Lukhee the following year, and welcomed their second child, daughter Riho, in 2015. Since 2019 she has been living in New Jersey, United States, with the two children, and she currently shares her daily life and communicates with fans through her YouTube channel "Mrs. New Jersey Son Tae-young."
The couple Kwon Sang Woo and Son Tae-young recently appeared together on the "Study King Real Genius Hong Jin Kyung" channel and mentioned why only the husband, Kwon Sang Woo, remained alone in Korea as a separated father while his wife and children emigrated to the United States.
Kwon Sang Woo said, "I wanted to raise the children in nature," and noted, "Our eldest sister-in-law lives in the United States, so having family there also influenced our decision," but there was another real reason.
Son Tae-young attended the 2018 Melon Music Awards in December 2018 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul as a presenter and awarded this year's best song. In the process, her son Lukhee sat in the artist seating, triggering what was called a "special treatment controversy," and the family received an onslaught of vicious online comments that led them to decide to emigrate.
At the time, a representative for Son Tae-young said, "We were guided to the seat without any awareness that it was artist seating. The children briefly sat there only during the time Son Tae-young was presenting, and then they immediately left. As soon as Son Tae-young finished presenting, she vacated the seat," and added, "There was absolutely no special treatment or anything like that. However, I apologize if we unintentionally caused concern by having them sit in the artist seating even for a moment. I would like to apologize to anyone who was upset by this."
After eight years, Son Tae-young, recalling the past, said, "At the time Lukhee was playing games in the waiting room and I was preparing to present. A writer said the seats were all empty so we could sit briefly, so we sat. I said, 'Please handle it~ Talk with our representative~' then I presented, we all greeted and just went home. But the next day I was on the real-time search list and it became a huge fuss."
Kwon Sang Woo said, "It came across like a privilege. But at that age Lukhee didn't even know who the singers were," and Son Tae-young said, "At that moment I thought, 'I don't belong here. I should leave.' It became a situation where even the children were being insulted because of me, and after spending a month saying, 'Yes, I was wrong,' my brother hurriedly prepared our originally planned trip to the United States. That's how we left," her eyes welling with tears.
Son Tae-young cried, saying, "It was different because my husband was there. Compared with being alone... it chokes me up again," and Kwon Sang Woo said, "What I liked about Tae-young doing YouTube was that a lot of those prejudices faded. It seemed people saw her real self, and I really liked that."
Kwon Sang Woo joked, "We'll live a long time. We've been criticized so much," and Son Tae-young laughed, saying, "We took a lot of comfort from that. We said we'll live 100 years." Kwon Sang Woo added, "But it's not just us; people in the entertainment industry are often misunderstood for things that aren't their fault."
[Photo] "Study King Real Genius Hong Jin Kyung" screen capture
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