Actor Lee Hwi-hyang explained why she decided to marry just six months after her debut.
On the 22nd episode of MBN Kim Ju-ha's Day and Night, actor Lee Hwi-hyang appeared as a guest and shared her story.
That day Lee Hwi-hyang said that after debuting as an MBC public recruitment class 14 talent in 1981, when asked about being cast in 'Inspector General' despite being a rookie with no acting experience, she explained the casting reason, "It was so shocking. My appearance was completely different from the actors at that time. Because I was tall and so on."
However, she attracted attention by revealing, "Then after about six months I met my husband and decided to quit everything and get married." Kim Ju-ha expressed surprise, saying, "Still, usually people delay marriage for their career, don't they?" Lee Hwi-hyang explained, "I thought an actor's training had to be that of a stage actor. Even until then. So something more important existed for me. If something is important, I thought I would follow it, so I chose marriage then. And a woman's face reveals everything over her life. You can't hide it. So when you look at my face, (married life) is all revealed," she said.
Lee Hwi-hyang, who quit acting and married in 1982, reappeared on screen in 1986 by appearing in 'Every blade of grass has dew' about four years later. When asked what led her to act again, she recalled the moment, "There were several turning points in my thinking. At one moment, the reason I acted again was theater. When my baby was 5 years old we were in Pohang, and there were people doing provincial theater in Pohang. One day they came looking for my husband. They said, 'We're going to a provincial theater festival and are doing a Cha Beom-seok teacher's play. For this role of the daughter-in-law we really hope Lee Hwi-hyang will do it,'" she recalled the situation at the time.
She said, "So my husband asked, 'I don't know how my wife will think,' and asked. But the stage theater I thought of is not something you can do roughly while watching the baby and doing housework. I wasn't taught that way. So I said, 'Honey, I can't do this,' and he asked why. I said, 'How can I raise a child and do this? Theater rehearsals must be every day for about three months; how can I do that? If the baby has just started walking, if you don't catch them they fall, it's like that. I can't do it.' Then he said, 'Then I'll take care of the child. You do it.' Because he knew so well that I wanted to do it," she said, drawing admiration.
She continued, "During rehearsals he truly sat in the very front seat of the stage in front of Pohang Citizens' Hall every single day without missing any. Because of that they went to the provincial theater festival and the play won the presidential award. I even won best actress. Then my husband asked, 'How about trying acting again? Let's be a weekend couple. Go up to Seoul and act. If you stay here and don't act I think I'll feel guilty.' Hearing that, I said I understood. I couldn't hear any other words. 'I think I'll feel guilty' — that line. If my husband is unhappy, that's not right," she said, conveying her husband's extraordinary support.
Hearing this, Kim Ju-ha admired, "Your husband gave you love and boundless trust. When you had a recording in the provinces, your husband paid for everything," and Lee Hwi-hyang showed deep affection, saying, "Because I'm doing what I love so much. Because I'm so happy, when my husband sees that, isn't he happy too? So he wants to give me everything."
Meanwhile, Lee Hwi-hyang married the late Kim Du-jo, who was known as a former organized crime member and 19 years her senior, in 1982 and had two sons. The late Kim Du-jo left gang life after their marriage and died in 2005 after battling lung cancer.
[Photo] MBN
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