Beauty creator Yu Kkaet-ip (real name Yu Ye-rin) candidly shared her honest thoughts about the prejudices and preconceptions that have surrounded her.
Yu Kkaet-ip appeared with her ex-husband Choi Go-gi (real name Choi Beom-gyu) on TV CHOSUN's "X's private life," which aired on the 14th and 21st. Yu Kkaet-ip and Choi Go-gi married in 2016 and had a daughter, Sol-ip. They divorced in 2020 citing personality differences, and Choi Go-gi took custody of their daughter.
The two have continued to interact steadily after the divorce to fulfill their parental responsibilities for Sol-ip. Asked why she appeared on TV CHOSUN's "X's private life," which follows another divorce-centered program, "We Got Divorced," Yu Kkaet-ip explained, "Honestly, after the divorce, my relationship with (Choi Go-gi) improved, so I had no hesitation about appearing on the show together," adding, "I thought this could be an opportunity in a way, so I decided to appear."
"X's private life" is a reality-observation program that watches X's current life after divorce and their meetings with new partners from the perspective of their former spouse. On the show, Choi Go-gi revealed his girlfriend of five years, YouTube channel producer Lee Joo-eun, and showed scenes of them co-parenting Sol-ip. Watching the three together brought Yu Kkaet-ip to tears.
Yu Kkaet-ip said, "I worried a lot that I might be placing too heavy a responsibility on Joo-eun. I often heard stories from Sol-ip. I heard a lot about how Joo-eun treats her and how well she takes care of her, so those parts and my emotions kind of overlapped. I felt very sorry and grateful," expressing her moved feelings.
Sol-ip calls Lee Joo-eun "Joo-eun mom" and Yu Kkaet-ip "Ye-rin mom" to distinguish between them. When asked how she felt seeing her daughter call someone else mom, Yu Kkaet-ip said, "At first it felt very strange, mysterious. But Sol-ip often communicates in everyday life like, 'What did you do with Joo-eun mom?' Hearing those stories made me recognize more quickly that 'since I'm not there, Joo-eun is really doing that role well,'" she confessed.
Sol-ip must have been the most confused by her parents' divorce. When not with Yu Kkaet-ip, Sol-ip candidly said, "When I talk about my mom I miss her more and I can't sleep," yet in front of Yu Kkaet-ip she showed an understanding side that deeply moved viewers, saying, "I can tell you're working to earn money to buy tasty things," showing empathy for her mother's feelings.
About Sol-ip's mature behavior, Yu Kkaet-ip said, "After the divorce I cried at first, but after that happened repeatedly I guess I adapted. The number of times I cried decreased, and now she says things like, 'Mom, see you the week after next,' and waves while smiling. I used to be alone at home a lot, and Sol-ip used to think mom was always alone and pitiful. But now I often meet people with my boyfriend, and she actually likes that more. She thinks mom doesn't seem alone and that there is someone who can take care of me," she revealed.
She added, "When I was Sol-ip's age I didn't think or couldn't behave like that. Seeing how mature she is made me feel even more sorry. It might have been hard if she had cried and thrown tantrums like a child, but I would have thought, 'Well, Sol-ip is still a kid.' The feeling of apology is the strongest. I feel sorry and grateful," showing her tenderness.
Yu Kkaet-ip said, "Sol-ip told me, 'I like that I have two moms who are pretty.' I'm so thankful," and described her cordial relationship with Lee Joo-eun, saying, "When Joo-eun sometimes brings Sol-ip over, we greet each other. We're not exactly like (friends), but we smile and she tells me what she did with Sol-ip."
She continued, "I once had a bad cold. When I was feeling a bit better, it was the day I would see Sol-ip after a long time, and Joo-eun brought her out. She said, 'I heard you were very sick,' and gave me throat lozenges and Ssanghwatang, which is good for colds. I said, 'I'll take it and eat it,' and thanked her. I think Sol-ip received a good influence from seeing those gestures. (Lee Joo-eun) is very kind. A truly pure soul. I really wonder how (Choi Go-gi) met someone like her," she sighed and made people laugh.
Asked whether she felt Lee Joo-eun was too good for Choi Go-gi, she joked, "Of course. I only think, 'Be good to her.' She doesn't say that to him, maybe for fear of causing trouble." She added, "While filming 'X's private life' I only thought, 'Give her a nice ring.' Fortunately, he seems to have given her something more expensive than he gave me. He must treat her well," urging him earnestly. She also sincerely wished, "I hope Gogi and Joo-eun are really happy together."
Lee Joo-eun has repeatedly shown respect and consideration for Sol-ip's biological mother, Yu Kkaet-ip. Regarding their relationship as a new family form, Yu Kkaet-ip said, "We divorced by mutual agreement without dragging things out, and I honestly want, whatever the reason for the divorce, that in front of the child things not be detrimental to the child's emotional health. I hope more images of us smiling and acting normally are shown. Of course there are times we resent each other. People who split on bad terms will understandably feel resentment, but in front of the children, even if parents are finished as a couple, efforts like that are needed," she said firmly.
The broadcast highlighted Yu Kkaet-ip's deep inner life as a mother, which had not been visible before. She said bitterly, "Some people react like, 'Huh?' Due to Korean sensibilities, if a mother doesn't raise the child, they assume she's at fault or say things like, 'Are you even a mother?' There's a lot of criticism like that. But when a father raises a daughter, people praise the father or call him a single dad."
Explaining that part of her reason for appearing on "X's private life" was to break such prejudices, Yu Kkaet-ip said, "There are parts that feel unjust, and I wanted to say, 'I'm not as trashy as you think.' I sometimes thought, 'Why is it only me?' Especially many older people are like that," she complained.
Yu Kkaet-ip also made headlines by publicly introducing her older boyfriend, Ji Chang-ho, whom she has dated for four months. She said, "Before the meeting the producers called me, and at that time the program's direction sounded like a matchmaking show, so I said no. I told them I had a boyfriend and apologized and we said, 'Let's contact each other again for a better program.' Later they contacted me again and suggested, 'If you're currently dating someone, how about proceeding with making it public?'" she explained the background.
She said, "Since Gogi also had Joo-eun, whom he had dated for a long time, I said, 'If you ask Gogi oppa and Joo-eun agrees to appear together, I will consider appearing too.' My boyfriend gladly agreed to the appearance. After filming his most common question was, 'When will this air? When will it come out?' He had never been exposed to cameras, so he was curious how his face would look. After the broadcast, contacts started coming in one by one. Close friends captured it and sent it in group chats, but he said he couldn't watch the show," she said, describing her boyfriend's real reaction.
Earlier, Choi Go-gi revealed his proposal to Lee Joo-eun on "X's private life." Amid this, Yu Kkaet-ip and Ji Chang-ho said they both have positive thoughts about marriage. Yu Kkaet-ip spoke openly about having a second child, saying, "Honestly, if the man I'm currently dating were divorced or had children, the conversation might be different. But my boyfriend is, in a way, single. I'm someone who thinks that as long as my body can handle it, I should have children. I heard Sol-ip said she wanted a sibling. After time passed since the divorce, the father (Choi Go-gi) asked about a sibling, and Sol-ip reportedly said, 'I like the idea of a sibling,'" showing her firm thoughts about a second child.
Ji Chang-ho is the older brother of a long-time friend of Yu Kkaet-ip, so he knows all the situations she has faced. On the show, Ji Chang-ho said both that Yu Kkaet-ip's divorce and the fact she has a child "don't matter." In addition, his parents' affection for Yu Kkaet-ip warmed hearts. Yu Kkaet-ip said, "My father-in-law has met Sol-ip. At that time I wasn't dating my current boyfriend, but he seemed to look at her with pity and said things like, 'What's the big deal about divorce?' and 'What's so serious about that?'" she recalled.
About the relationship between Sol-ip and Ji Chang-ho, she said, "Sol-ip really likes him. When I first asked her, 'What do you think of uncle?' she said, 'He seems like a funny person.' When I told my boyfriend that, he said, 'I think you misread it.' He says he's not a funny person, but when he's with kids he listens to them well, suggests activities like 'Should we do this or that?' He's usually quiet, but he adjusts well to children and talks to them a lot. When I eat with Sol-ip and she misbehaves, he'll say, 'Ah, it could happen,' and side with her when I scold her. So they scold her together," she said, describing a warm atmosphere.
However, on the possibility that Sol-ip might call Ji Chang-ho "dad," she drew a line, saying, "I think the situation with Joo-eun and me is somewhat different. I feel my boyfriend is an uncle to Sol-ip, not a father, and I think one father is enough." She added, "In a way, by meeting Joo-eun, my brother became someone who might give Joo-eun the heavy responsibility of being 'Sol-ip's mom,' which could be burdensome. I don't want to burden my boyfriend with that responsibility. I'd be grateful if he stayed as an uncle who smiles when he sees her, buys tasty things and takes good care of her, rather than giving him the responsibility of being a father."
Asked what kind of mother she wants to remain to Sol-ip, Yu Kkaet-ip said, "I used to say I wanted to be a 'friend-like mom,' but now I don't think I want to be completely like a friend. I want to be someone who is comfortable to meet, not awkward. That might be a friend, but above all I want to be someone who isn't uncomfortable or awkward. Since we don't live together and Sol-ip lives in Suwon now and might move elsewhere later, possibly to Joo-eun's hometown in Jeju, we might not see each other often. When she thinks of me, I want her to feel good. Sol-ip said she felt sorry I was alone. I don't want her to think of me as a pitiful mom. I'm not pitiful," she said, expressing her frustration with a laugh.
During the filming of "X's private life," Yu Kkaet-ip said she worked part-time at the cafe run by her boyfriend Ji Chang-ho to secure steady income for Sol-ip's support. But after starting the cafe job, her main work on YouTube suffered, creating a role reversal. Yu Kkaet-ip said, "Working at the cafe wore me out. My stamina isn't great, so I couldn't do YouTube," explaining why she paused her YouTube activities.
She continued, "So I quit the cafe job. I wanted to focus more on YouTube, so I quit this month. I didn't expect it to be this hard to do both. I thought I could do both, but I couldn't. I still fill in occasionally until a replacement is found. I don't plan to take another part-time job," and said she plans to concentrate more actively on YouTube going forward.
Finally, when asked what she wanted to say to those who view them with prejudice or preconceptions, Yu Kkaet-ip said, "I don't think prejudice will disappear just because of something I say or a single image. Given Korean sensibilities, those fixed notions are still entrenched. I'm not going to painfully untie the tightly bound knots of misunderstanding and prejudice by myself. I'd be grateful if people could just think, 'Oh, they live like this; they live differently from me. It's interesting, a bit puzzling,'" she said.
She added, "So honestly I don't particularly want to clear up misconceptions. It would only be hard for me. Even if I prove to one person, 'I really'm not that kind of person,' more misunderstandings will surely arise. That would be too exhausting, so I don't have anything special I want to say to them. I just hope they think of us as 'different.' 'Wrong' and 'different' have different meanings. I wish people wouldn't force what they think is wrong onto others," she said.
Especially, Yu Kkaet-ip said she did not want her relationship with Choi Go-gi to be perceived as treating divorce lightly. She said, "When our divorce and the fact that Joo-eun and I have boyfriends are portrayed on television, people might think divorce is trivial and light. I hope that impression isn't given. Our divorce was never light. Who would divorce lightly? Still, people might not understand how we live, but please know that Gogi and Joo-eun and I are all making efforts. We are all working for the child," she urged.
[Photo] TV CHOSUN, Yu Kkaet-ip SNS
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