Almost a year ago now, former LABOUM member Yulhee and FTISLAND member Choi Minhwan got divorced after five years of marriage and three children. Predictably, in the aftermath of that, Yulhee got most of the criticism, a lot of it centering around allegations of her not caring about her kids or the fact that she wasn’t constantly miserable on socials after.
But criticism really ratcheted up recently, as Yulhee joined variety show All By Myself and opened up about her life. Mainly, she talked about being surprised by the divorce, missing her kids, and addressed the criticism. Honestly, I didn’t think she said much that was even that critical of Minhwan, she just mostly talked about hardships she’s had.
Regardless, cyberwrecker Lee Jin Ho remarkably “stumbled” upon information about what went wrong between the couple, and placed the blame on Yulhee. He said she wanted expensive education, made Minhwan take the kids to school hours away, and relied on his parents for childcare. Meanwhile, Yulhee became an influencer during the pandemic to makeup for lost FTISLAND revenue, and a turning point came when Yulhee left home for 4-5 days without explanation. He also claimed she gave up custody because Minhwan had money and his family were dedicated to childcare, but that Minhwan allowed generous visitation rights.
An angel, apparently.
Well, due to the fallout from that and subsequent media coverage, Yulhee talked about her side of the story in a YouTube video. In it, she revealed the turning point was when he stuck money into her bra (like one might do at an adult entertainment place) and touched her body in front of their families. Then she found out Minhwan frequented adult entertainment establishments, and she included phone recordings between Minhwan and alleged associates of the establishments, showing him making reservations and complaining about no girls being available elsewhere, as well as admitting to doing it secretly. She also says they both agreed on the choice of schooling, mentioned that the divorce was settled without court, and that she basically kept quiet for the sake of the kids.
In response to this, Minhwan’s company (FNC Entertainment) released a statement saying that he’ll be suspending activities.
While it is difficult for us to fully grasp the details of personal matters related to marital issues, Minhwan feels a sense of responsibility for disappointing many of the public and viewers. Therefore, he has decided to suspend all media activities including the show he appears on with his children.
That last part is one of the wild things, as he was on KBS2’s The Return Of Superman like some kind of great single dad of three kids. Anyway, the production of that show also confirmed his departure.
No immediate rebuttal usually says a lot when it’s something as potentially ruinous as this.
And so, that’s an instant turnaround in public perception on this issue, and the impressive part about it to me is just how entitled Minhwan appears to be. Yulhee didn’t really express much outside of sadness and that he wanted the divorce, and she was basically just going to eat all the hate for the sake of their kids, but “somehow” his side of the story got into the hands of a cyberwrecker anyway. Thus, she came out with her side, along with evidence for it. He was still getting public sympathy out of the divorce, and he couldn’t allow her to even share her feelings.
Anyway, I just feel bad for Yulhee for having to deal with the year of hate, for dealing with him, and for the kids having to deal with their parents divorce being made public domain (though maybe knowing is good later? I dunno).
