Rhee Min-jung recalls medical emergency during first pregnancy

Actress Rhee Min-jung revealed a terrifying emergency she experienced abroad while pregnant with her first son, Jun-hu. While she was eating wedding food, a sudden physical reaction occurred, and the situation escalated so quickly that her eyes, lips, and even ears began to swell, causing the wedding ceremony to be interrupted.

On the 22nd, a video was released on Rhee Min-jung's YouTube channel 'Lee Min-jung MJ,' in which she answers various concerns regarding pregnancy and childbirth. Recalling her first pregnancy, Rhee began by saying, "Something truly surprising happened when I was pregnant with Jun-hu truly surprised me." At the time, she was attending a wedding for an acquaintance overseas. The problem was a small sandwich provided as party food. Rhee explained that after eating a bit of the food, which contained salmon and cheese, the wedding began, and shortly after, her thighs suddenly started to itch. When she went to the bathroom to check, red spots had appeared on her skin, and the symptoms began to spread toward her abdomen.

Rhee stated that she was in her 8th to 9th week of pregnancy at the time. What was even more disconcerting was that the symptoms did not stay limited to her skin. She recalled that her eyes, lips, and even ears began to swell, and the physical changes were so significant that people around her told her, "Don't look in the mirror." While some reports described the situation as anaphylaxis, Rhee's own remarks described a sudden allergic reaction and severe swelling, so it is not necessary to conclude it as a medical diagnosis.

The bigger problem was that she was in the early stages of pregnancy. Since even medications that one could normally take must be considered carefully during pregnancy, Rhee could not help but feel panicked. However, an unexpected helping hand appeared: the mother of the bride. She was a doctor, and upon hearing that Rhee was 8 to 9 weeks pregnant and hearing her symptoms, she reportedly halted the wedding, went to her own hospital, and brought back a prescription for medication that a pregnant woman could take.

Recalling that moment, Rhee said, "If it weren't for her, I honestly don't know what would have happened to me next." Since the symptoms progressed so rapidly, it was a moment of significant terror for someone experiencing a sudden abnormal reaction in a foreign country while in early pregnancy.

This experience also influenced Rhee's eating habits when she later became pregnant with her second daughter, Seo-i. Recalling her experience during her first pregnancy, she revealed that she was particularly careful with raw food during the early stages of pregnancy and even resisted her craving for raw fish when she was pregnant with her second child. However, this does not mean that specific foods cause the same allergic reaction in all pregnant women; Rhee was speaking based on her own experience.

This confession draws attention not just because Rhee is sharing a celebrity's pregnancy experience, but because she honestly opened up about the anxiety and unpredictable physical changes during the period leading up to childbirth through her own case. In the same video, she mentioned that she gave birth to her second child at age 40 and shared her thought that stress management is important during the pregnancy and childbirth process.

Married to Lee Byung-hun in 2013, Rhee became a mother of two, having her son Jun-hu in 2015 and her daughter Seo-i in 2023. Recently, she has been naturally sharing her daily life as both an actress and a parent, such as showing herself enjoying basketball with Jun-hu.

Ultimately, what this story leaves behind is not just a glamorous star's pregnancy tale, but a memory of a sudden moment that can strike anyone without warning. In particular, the story from the moment Rhee was told "not to look in the mirror" to overcoming the situation with the help of the bride's mother shows the intensity of the moment, which remains vivid even after all this time.