Actress Lee Seon-jeong revealed that she is experiencing financial difficulties due to a long hiatus from work.
On the 24th, a video titled ""There is no place left to retreat" expressing her will to make a comeback at her mother's restaurant" was uploaded to the "Lee Seon-jeong's Seon-jeong-hagi" channel.
That day, Lee Seon-jeong greeted the production team in the restaurant kitchen wearing rubber gloves and an apron. She said, "This is my mother's restaurant. If I don't work, I'm unemployed. Instead of staying at home, it's better to help my mother." Afterwards, Lee Seon-jeong skillfully boiled noodles and served the dish to customers.
When asked about her recent life, Lee Seon-jeong said, "I just rested. I rested fully. When an entertainer has no work, aren't they unemployed? So on days without work I come to my mother's shop to help, and on weekdays I exercise or just spend time doing nothing. I help when there is no work. But since there's almost no work, you could say I come out almost every day. Because I'm unemployed."
She said it has been two years since her work stopped, adding, "At that time I appeared in about two episodes of tvN's "Sal-ah-it-ne Sal-ah-it-eo" and then took a long break." She also spoke about her financial situation: "It's tough. I used the money I had saved before, but it's almost gone now. Apart from that, not working feels a bit empty. I go to places like Daehangno to watch plays and think, 'What am I doing? I was an actor, so why am I just sitting and watching?' I just want to be on stage so badly. I've never even done theater or such, yet I feel that way. I want to work. My passion has awakened in my body."
Lee Seon-jeong married LJ (LJ) in 2012 after dating for 45 days, but it became a topic of conversation when it was revealed that they divorced after about four months. She said, "It was so hard then that I wanted to die, I had severe panic attacks and I was sick, but as time passed — even as long as 14 years passed — I became somewhat numb and thought it could happen. In the past, if someone divorced, people would say, 'She got divorced,' and she couldn't appear on TV. But now divorce isn't a stain. These days I want to move forward from the slightly withdrawn version of myself."
She said she struggled with the sharp public criticism at the time, "The media only portrayed me negatively, so I felt stressed. So at the end I did just one interview and the other media quieted down. If you don't speak, don't they treat you like a straw sack? So I said one thing and it ended."
She said seeing peers her age start YouTube channels one by one while she was taking a break motivated her: "Some friends reached 1 million, 2 million [subscribers]. It was so stimulating. So I really wanted to do YouTube. I thought, isn't it my turn to show [myself]? I want to show everything. I want to show my daily life, whether it's exercise or dieting. I have maintained 48–49 kg for 20 years. I can show the secrets of that or drinking and singing? Honestly, without alcohol it's so boring. I can genuinely show it. I'm bare-faced now. I'll appear on a bare-faced broadcast for the first time. What can't I show? I will show everything," she emphasized.
[Photo] Lee Seon-jeong's Seon-jeong-hagi
[OSEN]