[Sports Chosun Reporter Lee Yuna] “My husband has cancer, my son has autism, my daughter has depression.”
On the TV Chosun entertainment program ‘Chosun’s Lovebird’ broadcasted on the 24th, the inner thoughts of Kim Tae-won’s wife, Lee Hyun-joo, were revealed as she opposed their daughter Kim Seo-hyun’s wedding in Korea, saying, “In Korea, there’s no wedding for the daughter.”
Through a video call from the U.S., the daughter expressed her wish to have a wedding in Korea, but her mother was having a hard time, so it was decided to hold it only in New York. She asked her father to persuade her mother to agree to a wedding in Korea as well. Kim Tae-won replied, “I will persuade her. Let’s have the wedding both in the U.S. and Korea.”
Kim Tae-won’s wife raised their two children alone overseas and dedicated her life to them. Returning to Korea after a long time, she went on a date with Kim Tae-won for the first time in 20 years.
She shared, “The last time all four of us traveled together was when Woo-hyun was seven. We went to Boracay, Philippines. Woo-hyun caused quite a scene on the plane and declared, ‘This is the end of family trips!’ That was mean,” she laughed with a mix of sadness.
Kim Tae-won urged his wife to decide quickly about having a wedding in Korea, to which she replied she hadn’t considered holding a wedding in Korea because “the three ‘Kims’ made it too tough,” referring with a bittersweet smile.
His wife bluntly remarked, “The first issue is that you didn’t take care of your health. How can you face people with such a countenance?” Kim Tae-won recalled when he discovered his stomach cancer during a health check mission on the entertainment show ‘Qualifications of Men’. He said, “Before the onset, I overworked myself. We usually filmed ‘Qualifications of Men’ for 12 hours. There was stress. Although my mind was happy and joyful, fatigue accumulated, and I also loved drinking.” After the diagnosis, he traveled to the Philippines, where his family stayed, to confess to his wife and receive care. However, after cancer treatment, he suffered from sepsis during his time as a radio DJ in 2016. He mentioned, “I was heading to a live broadcast when I suddenly had a nosebleed that wouldn’t stop. After completing my schedule, I returned home, drank from a shower head due to thirst, and fell asleep. If it hadn’t been for a day off the next day, I might have died.” His manager, visiting for a schedule, found him and took him to the hospital. However, the sepsis recurred in 2019 during ‘Immortal Songs’. As a result, he lost his sense of smell and even had impaired vision and diminished perfect pitch. Since his second sepsis, Kim Tae-won has quit drinking entirely.
His wife expressed, “Our son has been on the autism spectrum and had developmental disabilities since birth, and the daughter had severe depression,” reflecting naturally on how she has constantly struggled to care for her family. Even though their daughter improved significantly after meeting her fiancé, she noted U-hyun and Kim Tae-hyun are still ongoing challenges. Kim Guk-jin sympathetically remarked, “While in the Philippines, you cared for your children, and in Seoul, your husband was sick; it must have been extremely hard.”
Kim Tae-won shared, “Around the time Seo-hyun didn’t understand you, I was most upset with her. When I occasionally visited the Philippines, Seo-hyun felt like a stranger in my eyes.” His wife added, “That was during middle school when her depression was at its worst,” suggesting it coincided with adolescence. Kim Tae-won admitted, “I didn’t know back then. I was filled with rage seeing her defiance. It was already hard enough to fix what was broken and what needed correcting at home, but then Seo-hyun was acting up too. I got angry, telling her ‘Your mom is already exhausted without you adding to it’.” His wife tearfully confessed, “When Woo-hyun was sick during his infancy, I often pushed Seo-hyun away and didn’t hold her. That’s why she changed so drastically.” She felt overwhelming regret towards her daughter. Nonetheless, she acknowledged, “Seo-hyun understands everything now. Talking about her makes me tear up,” reaching for tissues.
Kim Tae-won dedicated a song called ‘Stroll,’ which he composed himself, to console his wife’s difficult life.
Finally, cautiously proposing a wedding in Korea, his wife readily agreed again, saying, “How can there be a wedding without the father there?”