Seoul — It’s Okay Not To Be Okay actress Seo Yea-ji has been in headlines recently following a controversy involving her former boyfriend, Kim Jung-hyun.
Since the incident, multiple advertisement companies have begun dropping the actress from their endorsement deals.
Companies such as AK Beauty’s cosmetic brand LUNA, New Origin’s Inner Flora and mask brand AER have deleted all traces of Seo from their websites and their promotions. Sunglass brand RIETI changed the YouTube status of all their commercials with Seo Yea-ji to private and removed the collaborative video titled “RIETI x Seo Yea-ji collaboration.”
It is expected that Seo may have to pay penalties worth billions of KRW (millions of USD) due to the breach in contract and cancellation of the advertisements. Seo has been involved with a number of controversies that have caused the cancellation of these advertisements.
As reported by Allkpop, Seo was accused of controlling Kim Jung-hyun, to act rudely to his Time co-star Seohyun. She was also accused of lying about her academic background and her plastic surgery.
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. However, another employee has defended Seo, saying that the actress has always treated everyone well, as reported by Straits Times.
Born on April 6, 1990, Seo Yea-ji, also spelled as Seo Ye-ji is a South Korean actress. She began her acting career in the sitcom Potato Star 2013QR3 (2013–2014). This was followed by major roles in period drama Diary of a Night Watchman (2014) and thriller Last (2015). Her notable lead roles in television series include Moorim School: Saga of the Brave (2016), Save Me (2017), Lawless Lawyer (2018) and It’s Okay to Not Be Okay (2020).
While Seo’s ambition was to be a TV news presenter, things took a different turn when she caught the attention of the CEO of her then-management company, Made in Chan Entertainment, who persuaded her to venture into acting.
In March 2013, she stepped in the entertainment industry by appearing in an advertisement for SK Telecom. In May 2013, she featured in the Samsung Galaxy S4 short film Love essaying the role of Min-joo. She debuted as an actress in the tvN sitcom Potato Star 2013QR3 which aired for 120 episodes from September 23, 2013 to May 15, 2014./TISG