Baek Jin-hee: "I'm curious about pregnancy and parenting"

Actress Baek Jin-hee, who is set to marry next January, has shared her honest feelings as she contemplates future family life, including pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting. Having been an actress for a long time, it is noteworthy that she has begun to specifically imagine herself transitioning from a "wife" to a "mother" through this marriage.

In a video titled "20 Years of Friendship ing~ Visiting a real best friend in Gangneung for parenting healing and raiding my friend's sushi restaurant" released on the YouTube channel Jiny Is Back on the 14th, Baek met an old friend who is settled in Gangneung and raising two children.

The friend had formed a family with a man she met in Gangneung and was raising her children while settled in the region. Watching her friend care for the two children, Baek remarked, "That's amazing. It's not easy to raise two babies alone, especially when you don't have friends or older sisters nearby in Gangneung."

It didn't stop at simple admiration. When the friend spoke to her about future parenting and family life, Baek replied with a smile, "I'm curious too." In her situation of approaching marriage, she meant that she is curious about what she herself will be like during the stages of life such as pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting, which she has not yet experienced.

Baek also brought up her experience of raising a pet dog. She explained that while she wasn't a huge fan of dogs from the beginning, she learned the meaning of love and responsibility through the process of living together.

"While raising him for 7 years, I made sure to give him medicine even when he was sick and took him for walks. I felt that I am a person with a relatively strong sense of responsibility," she said. This was a reflection on how she realized through living with a pet that she possesses the strength to continuously handle the responsibility of caregiving.

At the same time, Baek made it clear that she cannot view a pet dog and a baby on the same level. She added, "But a dog and a baby would be so different. I'm curious too. I wonder how I'll be."

These remarks show Baek's current perception of marriage and parenting relatively honestly. While the concrete plan of marriage has become a reality, regarding the parental role she has not yet experienced, she is in a stage of wondering about her own changes rather than making hasty conclusions.

Baek's marriage news itself gathered significant attention. This is because the news was delivered suddenly in a situation where no particular public dating rumors had preceded it. On September 7, her agency Management AM9 announced that Baek would hold a private wedding ceremony on January 23 next year.

The groom is known to be a non-celebrity professional residing in Canada, and his name is reported to be Henry. As Baek, who has been active in the entertainment industry for a long time, has maintained her private life relatively quietly, the marriage announcement was received as unexpected news by the public.

The marriage is expected to be a significant turning point in Baek's life. Starting with the drama Korean Ghost Stories in 2008, she continued her full-scale acting career, building her filmography with leading and major roles in various works such as High Kick: Revenge of the Short Legged, Pots of Gold, My Daughter, Geum Sa-Wol, Jugglers, and Feel Good To Die.

In particular, Baek did not remain stuck with the image of a youth actress but expanded her character range by moving across genres such as period dramas, family dramas, romantic comedies, and workplace dramas. The actress, who for a long time acted out the lives of others in front of the camera, is now facing a new role in her actual life.

In that sense, the story of parenting in this video is difficult to view merely as a scene from a visit to a friend. The scene where she says "That's amazing" while looking at her friend's two children and answers "I'm curious too" regarding her own future shows Baek's current state, where she has begun to imagine life after marriage not as a vague concept, but as a concrete matter of daily living.

However, it is not that Baek is currently planning a pregnancy or has revealed a specific childbirth schedule. What she mentioned is merely curiosity about the parenting and parental roles she may encounter someday after marriage. There is no basis to immediately interpret her marriage announcement and remarks about parenting as a pregnancy plan or pregnancy fact.

If her life as an actress moved around works and filming, after marriage, the more private realms of relationships, caregiving, and family will become an important axis of her life. Baek overlapping her future while looking at her friend's family in Gangneung could be the starting point of this change.

Having been an actress for nearly 20 years, Baek is now entering a new chapter of life. Because she does not yet know exactly what kind of mother she will be, her question, "I wonder how I'll be," carries both the excitement of her upcoming marriage and a cautious curiosity about her new life.