(Following interview ②) Comedian Park Seong-gwang's wife and businesswoman Lee Sol-i spoke about the wounds and pain she suffered from malicious online comments that had tormented her.
Recently, comedian Park Seong-gwang's wife and businesswoman Lee Sol-i held an interview at the OSEN office in Mapo District, Seoul.
Last April, Lee Sol-i first revealed that she was battling a female cancer. At the time she said she didn't want to bring up the matter but that she was too hurt to remain silent as she was constantly portrayed as a "luxurious woman," "a woman who doesn't have children," and "a woman who uses her husband like an ATM" amid sensationalized articles and distorted views, and only revealed her battle about three years after beginning chemotherapy.
She said, "I must have talked about (my cancer battle) in 2025. I spoke up in the third year of treatment. That time still feels vivid even though a year has passed," adding, "Actually, I was working well at a pharmaceutical company and honestly I could have become an executive if I had stayed. I earned a high salary even at a young age, and as I wrote, after 'Same Bed, Different Dreams' I worked at the company for another year. My performance was good. But then I suddenly started receiving threatening notes and I was so scared that I quit the company."
She continued, "At that time I felt bittersweet but thought 'now I can do something else with my know-how and ability,' and within three or four months I got sick. So right after I resigned I fell ill and ended up lying at home with my arms and legs essentially gone. After that I wanted to try to live somehow. During my chemotherapy it was the COVID-19 pandemic so I couldn't go out to see sunlight. So when the sun came up I would go out and take photos I liked. That didn't cost money or feel burdensome and it made me the happiest, so I just posted those photos, but many people didn't notice I was sick because I kept posting such pictures."
Especially, Lee Sol-i said, "I'm positive about everything. Actually I'm sensitive but I tend to let things pass, so no matter how many people wrote malicious comments or made various suspicions and misunderstandings about our relationship, I lived without mentioning them even once," and when she said, "I never click on articles about myself," she burst into tears, clearly upset as she spoke about the malicious comments.
She recalled, "Even when I worked at the pharmaceutical company, since I was a woman in a male-dominated workplace many people said things like 'she's selling with her looks.' But I worked from morning until night, often not even eating, and after work at 6 p.m. I would change shoes and walk the stations up to the 12th floor to check whether our drugs were properly stocked, working desperately. I skipped lunch. I was coming to work at 6:30, so wouldn't a person be worn down? But people didn't see that I was working so hard and judged only by appearances, so there were many misunderstandings even in my pharmaceutical company days."
She added, "Eventually, by ranking first in performance I had an opportunity to speak in front of others. I could prove myself, was recognized, and had a good time at the company. After passing that chapter, I started this life, but even here people still said things like 'she married for money.' That's really not the case. Honestly, I find my husband's feet cute and I take many photos of his feet. To me he is very handsome. I love him that way, but there are few venues to show that and I live my life, so on the surface it may look different. People might have seen me as a character easy to hate and criticize. I live sincerely, but I realized the way people viewed me wasn't accurate," she said, expressing frustration at the sharp glare aimed at her.
Explaining that this was why she avoided reading articles about herself, she recalled, "Around March last year I woke up in the morning, put on a hat and took a mirror selfie. I posted something like 'a small-head hat my brother bought' and an article was written. There was nothing to be criticized, so I bravely clicked an article for the first time in a while. But all the top comments were insults saying 'she doesn't have a baby and just goes on trips and uses her husband's money.' In fact I earn more. I had already earned more than 100 million won by age 27, and I still buy things with my own money. Neither my husband nor I rely on the other's finances. But maybe it looks like that. Seeing so many hurtful posts that are hard to even mention made my heart drop like a roller coaster and my hands started shaking," she recalled the panic she felt.
She said, "It's fine if people dislike me, but when they misunderstand me I felt I had to correct it, so I wrote about the reason I left the company and that 'actually I was diagnosed with cancer and can't have children, so my life became more precious and I focused on my life, which is why I appear that way, but please don't view it only negatively.' After posting that, many people cheered me on and those who had been quietly supporting me left comments too."
The reason Lee Sol-i didn't want to disclose her battle until the end was because it was a female cancer. She said, "When I was preparing to have a child at exactly 33, a female cancer was discovered and hormonal treatment prevented me from having children. The sense of loss and depression from feeling as if I had lost my femininity was tremendous. I felt like I was no longer a woman. So I didn't want to reveal it. But that situation was so difficult. I wondered, 'Do I have to keep explaining myself and my life like this?' If someone misunderstood me, I'd have to say 'no' and explain, but I'm not making money from this, I'm not a broadcaster, I'm not talented enough to go on variety shows to earn money. So why do I have to keep explaining myself under this scrutiny? That was unbearable," she choked up.
Now she said she has learned to accept such looks more. "I wondered whether I'm a character suitable for sensational elements. If so, I must accept that, and if I don't like it I should leave. That's why I'm doing behind-the-scenes work like distribution. Someday I want everything to disappear from the internet, just run the brand and distribution and stop opening up. Not only me but my family is having a hard time, so that seems necessary, but at the same time I'm afraid of becoming numb and losing the people who come to support and say kind things, so I'm conflicted," she said, and added, "So I don't think too deeply. I don't even read articles and stick to living on my Instagram, where many people who view me positively and are in tune with me remain, and I try to live there."
Lee Sol-i said, "Someone said, 'Nobody cares about you. People who write malicious comments often don't even remember they wrote them.' But in my world I'm the main character and the center. In my world I felt like someone living so unfairly.' She added, "I feel like I'm in my late 30s and I don't have a baby and live like that, so I'm an easy character to hate. But this is just my slower pace, not selfish living. I can't have children so I don't have them, I have a lot of work so I work, and I have to live on my own money so I earn diligently. If you look closely I'm just a hardworking, pitiable worker, but because people don't know that, they assume otherwise," she said bitterly.
She said that appearing on 'Same Bed, Different Dreams' was only to help Park Seong-gwang and not for fame. She said, "I don't know what I am. I don't consider myself an influencer. An influencer is someone who can exert influence, and I don't think my reach is that large," adding, "My identity is confused, so I'm going inward and focusing on myself to build a denser life. I'm always on Instagram, but I mostly post and focus more on my life," explaining her way of coping.
She also described changes after revealing her battle. Lee Sol-i said, "I still don't know because I don't look, but some people said, 'Don't lie. You show no sign of being sick.' I once cut my hair short. After surgery they told me to cut it short because hair falls out with chemotherapy, so I cut it. While undergoing chemo I wore a short wig because I had no hair. Because both were short, it might not have shown much. People said that was impossible, so I posted a photo of my shaved head that looked like a quail egg. I couldn't bring myself to post a front view so I posted only the back and then the criticism eased a bit," she said.
She added, "Now there are people who write things like 'that sick person can't get her act together and goes around like that.' But I think that's outside my realm. That person just dislikes me for no reason. They see everything with sarcasm, so I wonder, 'How hard must those people's lives be?' Those people are not in my realm, and if there were people who thought 'why doesn't she have a baby,' now that they know my situation, even if they don't like me they probably won't insult me over that," she replied calmly.
That did not mean the wounds from malicious comments disappeared. Lee Sol-i said, "It's always painful. New malicious comments keep coming. Malicious comments evolve. Now they write them as if they're not malicious comments," adding, "I still get hurt, but I think I've developed a bit of callus. When I think about it, I've been living like this since 2020, about six years. After receiving malicious comments continuously for six years, I've developed calluses. But who would enjoy being hated? I avoid looking at them. I've learned how not to look."
She expressed caution about future broadcasting activities. Lee Sol-i said, "I think broadcasting doesn't suit me. Being an entertainer isn't something anyone can do. Until recently offers kept coming from talk shows, and I wondered, 'If doing that builds inner intimacy and lets people get to know me more, could I enjoy and pursue that field?' But on the other hand I still think it would be hard and scary. I'm afraid someone will recognize me and write about me, so I probably won't do broadcasting if possible," she said frankly. (Continued in interview ④).
[Photo] OSEN DB, Lee Sol-i SNS
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