Kim Hyun-joo, the Real Reason Behind Her 3-Year Hiatus

Actress Kim Hyun-joo has opened up about the circumstances that led her to suspend her activities in the entertainment industry for three years. She confessed that she worked relentlessly, moving between dramas and variety shows, to the point of experiencing extreme fatigue where she would fall asleep on set, only to have her makeup removed and reapplied. Ultimately, when she reached the thought, "If I keep doing this, I don't think I can live any longer," she declared a hiatus of her own accord. Fortunately, there were no financial difficulties. With the honest answer, "It wasn't difficult because I had saved up back then," she looked back on the time she had to boldly stop to protect herself.

On the 11th, a video was released on the YouTube channel 'Fairy Jae-hyung' featuring Kim Hyun-joo, Lee Moo-saeng, and Jin Seon-kyu. In the video titled 'Why do you say the word 50 years so much?', Kim Hyun-joo honestly shared the background of her past hiatus and her state of mind at the time. The video revealed the hidden exhaustion and burnout behind the glamorous life of an actress, and the paradoxical situation where she had to stop working in order to continue acting.

Mentioning the hiatus that lasted about two years at the time, Kim Hyun-joo said, "My mindset has changed." She confessed that after running non-stop for about five years, she wanted to escape that lifestyle. She revealed that there were times when, if she fell asleep during filming, the makeup artist would wipe off her makeup with a sponge and then reapply it. During the period when she was balancing drama filming with hosting variety programs, although her body was on set, she had reached a state where it was mentally difficult to endure any longer.

There were reasons beyond simple fatigue for her decision to suspend activities. Recalling those days, Kim Hyun-joo said, "Filming used to be tight back then," and "My soul was completely exhausted." She explained, "Thinking that I might not be able to live longer if I continued like this, I spoke to my agency and suspended activities for three years." For an actress with a continuous stream of works, a break could lead to a loss of opportunity, but for Kim Hyun-joo, it was a choice that could no longer be delayed. She was so exhausted that after finishing the drama 'The Land', she even declared she would no longer do dramas.

In particular, 'The Land' was a work that brought both glory and pressure to Kim Hyun-joo. Although she received several awards for the work, she looked back, saying it was "a burdensome work" for her. She confessed, "Even thinking about it now gives me goosebumps. I felt like I might have ruined such a great masterpiece. I felt so sorry." Regardless of the work's success, the pressure and responsibility she felt personally were significant. After finishing filming, she bought a plane ticket to the United Kingdom, and she was about 27 years old at the time.

The time spent in the United Kingdom was a series of unfamiliar experiences for Kim Hyun-joo. She stated that while staying there for several months, she spent time entirely alone for the first time. She said that after escaping a life where there were always people around and moving according to filming schedules, she realized that there was actually not much she could do by herself. She shared an anecdote that brought laughter, saying she even attended a language school because of the thought "I can't live like this," but quit out of embarrassment upon meeting Koreans. It was a time to contemplate what kind of person she was and what she could do besides acting.

The contemplation also led to specific career planning. Kim Hyun-joo revealed that while thinking about what she could do if she quit this job, she even imagined buying a small truck and doing fruit sales. She did not take the profession of an actress for granted and seriously considered the possibility of living a completely different life. However, upon returning to Korea, unexpectedly, what she missed was the filming set. Coincidentally, a new project proposal came in, and she decided to start acting again. Instead, she established a principle not to run blindly as she did before. Since then, she has been active while adhering to the standard of doing only one project per year.

When the host Jung Jae-hyung expressed concern about income issues regarding the story of her taking a three-year break, Kim Hyun-joo replied, "It wasn't difficult because I had saved up back then." She explained that because she had built up financial stability through steady activities over a long period, there was no need to return recklessly for the sake of making a living. This was also the background that allowed her to reflect on herself and reorganize her future life rather than being chased by financial hardship during the hiatus. However, the fact that she could endure financially does not lighten the mental and physical exhaustion she experienced at the time.

Since resuming activities, Kim Hyun-joo has kept the principle of putting herself first. She said, "I made up my mind to think of myself first and not create situations where I am too exhausted." She further explained the reason why she has refrained from appearing in variety shows and interviews other than her works, saying, "I am a person who has nothing more to show, and since I have already shown a lot, I thought I should minimize exposing myself as much as possible." Contrary to the common belief in the entertainment industry that more exposure to the public leads to more popularity, she chose to reduce exposure to protect her energy.

Kim Hyun-joo's confession shows that it is difficult to judge an actor's success solely by the number of works or public exposure. In the entertainment industry, where working constantly is evaluated as diligence, she admitted the limit that she could no longer endure if she did not stop, and allowed herself the time she needed. While it was a break made possible by the money she had saved, what cannot be explained by financial stability alone is her determination to place her own life ahead of her work. The three-year hiatus was not simply a period where her career was empty, but a turning point where she redefined her own pace in order to act for a long time.

Read the original (Korean)