Seoul — It’s Okay Not To Be Okay actress Seo Yea-ji, 31 has lost a number of endorsement deals and a lead role in the wake of a controversy over how she allegedly controlled her former boyfriend, actor Kim Jung-hyun, 31.
The actress was dropped from advertisements by health and lifestyle brand New Origin, mask label AER and cosmetics brand Luna, among others. Seo’s lead role in upcoming drama Island, which was due to start filming in June, will be recast, according to Straits Times.
On top of that, a former staff member from the actress’ management agency has spoken up about her alleged verbal abuse, threats and unreasonable behaviour in an explosive tell-all. According to the anonymous post, Seo yelled at the staff over small mistakes, blew cigarette smoke in their faces and checked their phones to ensure that they did not record her behaviour.
“Whenever she said she was in a bad mood, she never ate anything and so we were unable to eat. She also told us that actors are people who work solely with their emotions so we were expected to give in to everything she wanted.”
The post went on: “If there were bad rumours going around about her, she would come up to us and say, ‘I know it’s you guys. This industry is small, be careful with what you say or I will make it hard for you guys to get jobs.'”
Nevertheless, another employee has come out to defend Seo, saying that she had always treated people well. To add fuel to the flames, Seo has been accused of being a bully during her school days even though her management agency had previously denied the allegations.
Seo started dating Kim in 2018 and she allegedly instructed the actor to avoid all intimate scenes with his co-star Seohyun and other women on the set of K-drama Time (2018).
On Monday (April 12), entertainment news portal Dispatch published text messages allegedly exchanged between Seo and Kim, showing her demanding that he act hostile to other women and send her videos of himself on the set so that she could monitor him. On Tuesday, Seo’s management agency said that it was just a lovers’ tiff and that Kim had made similar demands.
Kim, who subsequently left the drama citing mental health issues, wrote a lengthy apology on social media on Wednesday. He is said to be suffering from depression./TISG