Seo Ye-ji sent ‘controlling’ texts to her ex, but how did these other Korean actors react to their partner’s steamy scenes?
Seo Ye-ji and Kim Jung-hyun made headlines recently when a scandal broke over Seo supposedly “controlling” her then boyfriend while he was acting in the K-drama Time. The Korean entertainment website Dispatch revealed changes to the series’ script as well as leaked texts between the couple, where Seo allegedly pressured Kim into declining to film physically intimate scenes with his co-star, Girls’ Generation’s Seohyun.
But Seo isn’t the only actor who’s had to deal with her partner getting sappy with someone else on screen. Some of these actors played it cool, while others couldn’t help letting their jealousy surface in interviews.
Check out our list of other real-life couples … who “dated” other people on screen.
Seo Ye-ji and Kim Jung-hyun
On April 12, Dispatch published a report about Seo and Kim: Seo allegedly prevented her then boyfriend from filming romantic scenes in the 2018 MBC drama Time, demanding that he get the script changed and not have any contact with his co-star Seohyun while on set. Kim apparently decided to abide by her request, replying to Seo with the message “only you can touch my hand” and telling her that he didn’t even greet any of the female staff, according to the reports. Kim later dropped out of the series due to health issues, according to a statement from his agency.
The day after the report went live, Seo’s agency Gold Medalist released an official statement, saying that the leaked text conversations were “a commonly seen quarrel between actors who are dating” and that “all actors apply themselves to the craft of acting by putting aside their quarrels with their partners”.
Kim So-yeon and Lee Sang-woo
Kim So-yeon made quite the name for herself after starring as Cheon Seo-jin in the series The Penthouse. She’s also famous for her sweet, shy personality off screen. She met her husband, fellow actor Lee Sang-woo, while they co-starred as lovers in the drama Happy Home in 2016.
In January on the reality show Hangout with Yoo, Kim discussed the number of kissing scenes she had in The Penthouse, admitting that her husband started to watch the drama less and less. And when they did watch the show together and Kim knew that one of her romantic scenes was coming, she’d tell Lee to go to another room.
But Lee actually had a cameo in The Penthouse, playing a reporter. He made sure to support his wife by saying hello, and fans cooed over behind-the-scenes footage of Kim happily greeting him. Fans were were also entertained that Kim had three husbands on set at once: her character’s ex-husband and future husband, and her real-life husband too.
Meanwhile, at a press event for TV series The Golden Garden in 2019, Lee shared that he doesn’t easily get jealous because of his wife’s acting … but sometimes he does quietly reach for a beer while watching her romance scenes. Guess that’s his way of taking the edge off.
Eugene and Ki Tae-young
Kim Yoo-jin, better known as Eugene, also stars in The Penthouse as Oh Yoon-hee. In real life, she’s happily married to the actor Ki Tae-young, with whom she shares two daughters. The couple met when they filmed the drama Creating Destiny together in 2009.
On the talk show Happy Together in 2014, Ki shared that he does sometimes get jealous, saying that when they first started dating, they had arguments over Eugene greeting other men by hugging them. He said that since Eugene spent her childhood in Guam, they have some cultural differences over physical affection.
In January, during The Penthouse Hidden Room: Hidden Story, SBS’ behind-the-scenes show for the TV series, Eugene recounted her husband’s reaction to a kissing scene she had with castmate Uhm Ji-koon. Apparently Ki read an article that said “Oh Yoon-hee and her naughty hand”, pointing out that Eugene was touching Uhm’s bum while kissing him. Ki later went to Eugene asking, “what’s the naughty hand?”
Lee Sun-kyun and Jeon Hye-jin
Lee Sun-kyun got global recognition for his role as Park Dong-ik in the Oscar award-winning Parasite. Meanwhile, his wife Jeon Hye-jin has starred in many films and dramas such as Search: WWW.
In an interview with XSportsNews in 2019, Lee said that Jeon knew about his intimate scene in Parasite before he filmed it, but instead of making jealous comments, her reaction was to ask if he did a good job. However, Jeon’s jealousy did flare up after she saw his heated kissing scene in the drama Miss Korea, telling him to “knock it off” when they discussed the show during an appearance together on the talk show Healing Camp, Aren’t You Happy in 2014.
Na Hye-mi and Eric Mun
Talk about a veteran power couple: Na Hye-mi debuted as an actress in the film Address Unknown at just 10 years old, while her husband Eric Mun is the leader of one of the OG noughties K-pop boy bands, Shinhwa. He has also starred in multiple successful dramas including Another Miss Oh. The couple got married in 2019.
On Happy Together in 2019, Na said that Mun respects her as an actor and gives her advice, but when he got to her kissing scene in the drama My Only One, he stopped the episode and declared, “I will watch it up to here.”
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.
Copyright (c) 2021. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.