Comedian July Jung discusses career gaps caused by 11 years of childcare

During a YouTube appearance on the 21st, comedian July Jung revealed that raising five sons over 11 years limited her broadcasting opportunities, leaving her to navigate a significantly changed industry as she seeks to return to work.

Comedian July Jung has opened up about the realistic hardships she faced while undergoing repeated cycles of pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare over the past 11 years. Although she has been with her agency for 18 years, she confessed that 11 of those years were spent giving birth and raising children, which limited her opportunities to participate in broadcasting even when she wanted to work. Her words, expressing a thirst for work and regret that "many things I could do have disappeared" as the broadcasting environment changed significantly while she focused on childcare, reflected her longing to return to the industry.

Appearing on the YouTube channel "Kim Mi-ryeo & Lee Gyeong-bun's Something Will Work Out" released on the 21st, July Jung looked back on her time raising five sons. "I have worked with my agency for 18 years. But during that time, I gave birth for 11 years," she said. She explained that while she has been active with the same agency for a long time, it was not easy to consistently appear on broadcast programs due to continuous pregnancies and childbirths.

July Jung shared specific details regarding her situation at the time. "Even the company would tell me to work a bit, but I couldn't," she revealed, adding, "They would ask, 'Can you work this day?' and if it worked out, I would go for a short while." This implies that even when broadcast appearance offers came in, she could only participate if they aligned with her childcare schedule. It suggests significant constraints on her activities as she navigated the tension between her desire to work and the reality of caring for her children.

Her daily life at home also revolved around childcare. July Jung confessed that since her marriage, there has never been a day when diapers ran out at home. As the process of children being born and growing continued incessantly, there was no room for the proportion of childcare in the household to decrease. This highlights how busy her daily life has been as a mother raising five sons.

In the meantime, the trends in the broadcasting industry have changed greatly. "The flow of broadcasting has changed so much in the meantime," July Jung said, revealing her honest feelings: "Many things I could do have disappeared. I really want to do broadcasting." Beyond simply having fewer appearance opportunities, she is facing the reality of having to find her place again within a broadcasting environment that has changed during her long hiatus. Aside from the time spent dedicated to childcare, her earnest desire to resume activities as a broadcaster was conveyed.

On this day, July Jung also revealed an unexpected anecdote regarding her husband's vasectomy. She surprised the cast by stating, "After my husband had his vasectomy, he asked the doctor to give it to him." She added that the doctor was bewildered, noting it was the first time seeing such a sight in 20 years. The unexpected laughter came from her husband's eccentric behavior of trying to personally take the vas deferens removed during the surgical process.

July Jung mentioned that the removed vas deferens is currently being kept at their home. Lee Gyeong-bun, who appeared alongside her, added that her husband had actually shown her the physical object, describing it as an anecdote that felt like pure boyishness. Following the realistic concerns surrounding childbirth and childcare, the broadcast added a pleasant atmosphere by revealing her husband's unique behavior.

July Jung married a non-celebrity man in 2015 and has five sons. Having devoted herself to childcare as a mother for a long time, she did not hide her wish to become active again as a broadcaster. Separate from her role as a mother of a large family, July Jung's honest confession of wanting to demonstrate her capabilities in front of the stage and camera drew empathy.

Read the original (Korean)