Singer Hye Eun-yi apologizes to ex-husband Kim Dong-hyun over past hardships

Singer Hye Eun-yi has offered an unexpected apology to her former husband, Kim Dong-hyun, who caused her to endure difficult times due to debts totaling more than 20 billion won. She revealed that a perfume she had gifted him out of love during their marriage became a scent she could not bear during their most painful periods, leading her to silently replace it with a different product. While calmly sharing these past wounds, Hye Eun-yi eventually bowed her head and said, "I am sorry, Mr. Kim Dong-hyun."

A live broadcast video was recently released on Hye Eun-yi's YouTube channel, "Anyway, Hye Eun-yi." During the broadcast, she shared an anecdote from her marriage, stating, "I will tell you one secret." She recalled how she had personally purchased perfume for Kim Dong-hyun before they were married because she liked it.

However, as time passed and economic difficulties and marital conflicts deepened, the perfume took on a completely different meaning. "When things were so hard and difficult, I hated the smell of that perfume so much. It was so annoying that I hated it," she confessed regarding her feelings at the time. She revealed that she eventually replaced the perfume for Kim Dong-hyun. It appears she did not hate the gift itself, but rather found the emotions and pain associated with the scent difficult to endure.

Hye Eun-yi said she did not reveal the true reason when she changed the perfume. She explained the situation, saying, "I said, 'This is a new perfume and they say it's good. Try this,'" as if nothing was wrong. She added, "I shouldn't say things like this, but when I am doing a live broadcast, things I don't want to say sometimes come out." After bringing up the memory, she apologized, saying, "I am sorry, Mr. Kim Dong-hyun." The short remark, which seemed to mix resentment and regret, revealed the complexity of emotions accumulated over many years.

The economic suffering Hye Eun-yi experienced was great enough to leave even small everyday objects and scents as emotional scars. She also confessed on past broadcasts that she suffered from panic disorder. She said she did not initially realize it was an illness and experienced a sense of pressure pressing on her chest and trembling. Her confession that her hands would shake even when holding a microphone to sing suggests the psychological burden she had to bear behind the glamorous stage.

The economic hardship also remained a painful memory for her family. When comedian Im Mi-suk asked about the most heartbreaking moment in her life, Hye Eun-yi replied, "When we were kicked out of the house we lived in." She recalled that "red stickers" signifying seizure were attached to the house several times, and her young son asked what they were. Hye Eun-yi reminisced that she lied to her child, saying, "They put those on to make it look pretty." This moment conveys the heart of a mother who had to hide reality from a young child unable to understand the economic crisis.

Her choices for making a living were also limited. Recalling the days she had to perform on nightclub stages, she said, "When things were hard, you had to do something that could make money, so you couldn't even do broadcasts." Regarding her feelings at the time, she confessed, "It wasn't just sad; it was so bad that I even thought about wanting to die." The fact that a singer who once reached the top through public love had to disregard the nature of the stage and her field of activity for survival adds complexity to her life story.

She also revealed that she stayed at a prayer center for more than a year. Hye Eun-yi explained that she did not enter voluntarily for religious reasons, but stayed there temporarily because she did not want to return home while preparing to go to the United States. She stated that after looking up plane tickets to the United States, she stayed at the prayer center to endure the gap before her departure. This confession shows how overwhelming the reality she faced at the time was.

Hye Eun-yi married a businessman in 1984 and had a daughter, but they divorced after four years. She remarried actor Kim Dong-hyun in 1990 and had one son and one daughter, but ended the marriage in 2019. It is reported that Hye Eun-yi, who had acted as a guarantor for Kim Dong-hyun's debts, took on a debt of 20 billion won as debt issues arose due to failures in businesses such as real estate development and film production. The life of a singer who once enjoyed top-tier popularity was greatly shaken by massive debt and the pressure of making a living.

What draws attention in this confession is that the apology toward her former husband is not read as a denial of past pain or a settlement of all conflicts. Within the trivial memory of changing a single perfume, the marriage that began with love, the collapsed daily life, and the difficult resentment are all intertwined. The sight of Hye Eun-yi bringing up the incident as a confession mixed with laughter and offering an apology after a long time shows that past wounds do not easily disappear.

Read the original (Korean)