Choi Hwa-jung reveals olive oil gift from Song Joong-ki and Katy Louise Saunders

Actor Song Joong-ki gave Choi Hwa-jung olive oil made from olives he and his wife, Katy Louise Saunders, harvested together in Italy, with a drawing of their two children decorating the container.

Choi revealed the gift in a video released on the 15th on her YouTube channel, “Hello, I'm Choi Hwa-jung,” while demonstrating five dishes using Greek yogurt. As she added garlic and olive oil to the yogurt, she explained where the oil had come from.

“Song Joong-ki gave this to me,” she said. “He said it was olive oil from his first harvest with his wife in Italy. He said the two of them harvested the olives together.”

The drawing on the container particularly caught Choi’s attention. “He said the little ones pictured here are the children of Song Joong-ki and his wife,” she explained.

“It’s so precious,” Choi said, adding that she usually takes the oil on an empty stomach but would make a special exception and use it in her cooking that day.

The gift was made from the couple’s own harvest rather than being an expensive product bought to give away. Together with the picture of their children, it offered a glimpse of their affection for their family, combining a memory of time spent harvesting with a tribute to their son and daughter.

Italy has a personal significance for Song beyond being an overseas travel destination: it is his wife’s homeland and where her family lives. During an earlier appearance on JTBC’s “Chef & My Fridge,” he said, “My wife has lived in Italy all her life, so I spend half the year in Italy.”

Saunders, who is from the United Kingdom, was born in Italy, and her family is reportedly based in Rome. Both of the couple’s children were also born in Italy. The family is known to spend time together while traveling between South Korea and Italy.

Song remarried in 2023, marrying Saunders, a former actor. They welcomed a son that year and a daughter the following year, making him the father of a boy and a girl born in successive years.

The olive oil captures a moment from the couple’s everyday life in Italy. The shared harvest and the drawing of their children give the gift a simple warmth, with its significance resting in the family’s time together and the children’s presence on the container.

For Song, whose screen performances convey intensity and charisma, harvesting olives with his wife and preparing a gift that evokes their children reveal another side of his life. The oil he gave Choi offers a glimpse of that family routine, which draws attention alongside his acting work.

Read the original (Korean)