Actor Bong Tae Gyu candidly revealed that he had long struggled with evaluations of his appearance and malicious comments since his debut.
A video featuring Bong Tae Gyu was recently released on the YouTube channel "SPNS TV."
That day Bong Tae Gyu began, "Originally I was someone who lived positively, satisfied with my life." But he said it changed after activities in the entertainment industry. He said, "After becoming an entertainer there were so many people criticizing me. Especially there were a lot of comments about my appearance," and confessed, "I heard things like 'not the ideal actor type' and 'why is that person doing that?'" He added, "The more successful I became and the bigger the roles, those remarks grew louder," and "At that time, it was the era when you could comment directly on articles, so I saw insults far more directly."
Ultimately, the repeated malicious comments left Bong Tae Gyu with complexes and feelings of inadequacy. He said frankly, "I became more sensitive without realizing it and got very angry," and "I looked at my mother's face and felt annoyed, and I looked at my maternal grandmother's photo and it was so similar I felt like I was going crazy." Still, he said with a bitter smile, "But I can't deny my family. I can't say to my mother, 'Why did you give birth to me like this,' so in the end I gave up."
In particular, Bong Tae Gyu said his son Siha also became a target of malicious comments after appearing on KBS2 "The Return of SUPERMAN," adding to the sadness. He said, "When your daily life is exposed, people overlay that image when you play other roles," and "No matter how well I act, there are moments when it's not convincing."
He said there were actually times when he was rejected in the casting process for the reason "the dad image is too strong." Bong Tae Gyu expressed frustration, saying, "How can you undo the fact that I've become a father?" He also said, "I'm not someone who is extremely handsome or very tall. So I thought I could be hope that someone like me could succeed if they worked hard."
But reality was different. Bong Tae Gyu confessed, "Ironically, people with insecurities attacked me more because of those aspects." Nevertheless, instead of shrinking back he chose to confront it head-on. Bong Tae Gyu said, "I started YouTube with the mindset of 'Oh really? Then I'll reveal more,'" and "I lived for a long time flinching, but I decided not to do that anymore." He went on to express his convictions as an actor, saying, "Even if it's not a commercial film, I continue to do projects and that alone is enough."
Meanwhile, Bong Tae Gyu married photographer Hashisibak in 2015 and has one son and one daughter.
[Photo] OSEN DB, YouTube
[OSEN]