Ku Hye-sun addresses heavy smoker rumors: 'I smoked a pack a day for 10 months for a movie'

Actress Ku Hye-sun has addressed the "heavy smoker" rumors that once surrounded her, revealing that she practiced smoking to perfect a scene for a film. She confessed that her dedication to realism led to unexpected public misunderstandings.

On the 18th, Ku, who is active as an actress, director, and composer, appeared on the MBN entertainment program "Kim Ju-ha's Day and Night" to discuss her experiences with various professional challenges.

During the broadcast, Ku shared an anecdote regarding her preparations for a smoking scene during her directorial debut feature film.

"In the feature film I debuted as a director, I had to perform a smoking scene. Since I didn't know much about cigarettes, I thought I just had to blow smoke out like an act," she said. "But people around me told me, 'That's not how you smoke. You have to smoke for real.'"

Ultimately, Ku decided to learn how to smoke herself to ensure the scene looked authentic. She surprised the cast by revealing, "I needed to find an actor who smokes, so I said I would do it myself. After that, I intentionally kept smoking for 10 months. I smoked one pack every day."

When Moon Se-yoon reacted by saying, "At that rate, didn't you actually like it? Even for smokers, it's not easy to smoke a pack a day," Ku explained that it was a rigorous preparation process for the production.

She also revealed the unique way she practiced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I learned how to smoke from my younger university colleagues. Since face-to-face meetings were difficult back then, I learned via video chat," Ku stated. "We weren't allowed to gather in groups of more than three, but in the video chat, five members would join, turn on their cameras simultaneously, and practice smoking together."

She further expressed the pressure she felt at the time, saying, "There was even a mission to go to the smoking room alone. Going there by myself required immense courage because I had to actually smoke, not just pretend to smoke."

An unexpected incident occurred during this process. Ku said, "At the time, an anonymous post appeared on a university student application. It said, 'I saw Ku Hye-sun smoking. She's a heavy smoker.'"

She explained, "After seeing that post, I thought, 'I've succeeded to this extent.' I judged that I was ready for filming because people believed I was an actual smoker, and only then did I begin shooting."

Ku, who has worked as both an actress and a film director, has consistently chosen to personally experience and research her roles to ensure the quality of her work. This recent confession highlights how her persistent preparation to create a single scene on screen led to the public misunderstanding known as the "heavy smoker rumor."