K-Pop Idols Expose The Extreme Hardships They Went Through In Early Debut Days

Group Apink’s Park Chorong and Oh Hayoung recalled their harsh trainee and early debut days.

On the 16th, Hayoung and Chorong appeared in a video with Super Junior‘s Donghae and Eunhyuk and candidly shared tough stories about managing their bodies during their debut period.

When Donghae said, “You guys haven’t changed at all,” Chorong replied, “Sunbaes haven’t changed either,” keeping the mood lighthearted. Eunhyuk added with a knowing joke, “We only say this among ourselves. When the same generation gathers, we say ‘you’re still the same.’”

Donghae and Eunhyuk then asked the two, who are now in their 14th year since debut, “Your management methods must be very different now, right? You can’t do things the old way anymore.” Hayoung answered without hesitation, “Yes,” and Chorong also shared, “If I starve myself like before, my weight doesn’t drop anymore, and starving itself is really hard.”

When Eunhyuk asked, “Did you follow an extreme diet at the beginning of your debut?” Hayoung honestly admitted, “Yes. Back then, we were quite chubby,” sharing the pressure they felt as they were scolded for failing to lose weight.

They also revealed specific diet methods. Chorong recalled, “I only ate salad vegetables without dressing and did lemon detox. I squeezed a lot of lemons and drank it.” Hayoung added, “I even hid snacks in the hat on my doll’s head,” evoking sympathy. When Chorong said, “I got caught once and got a serious scolding,” Hayoung calmly shared her hardship, “I was in the third year of middle school and felt really sad.”

The two also spoke about the prohibitions that continued after their debut. Chorong said, “There were so many restrictions. We basically didn’t have cell phones and couldn’t use them for about a year and a half. We didn’t even have phones in the dorm, so we contacted our parents using the manager’s phone,” she recalled.

When they talked about going out being absolutely forbidden and the CEO personally patrolling, Hayoung added, “The CEO counted the floors and said, ‘Turn the lights on and off.’ If you weren’t home, you couldn’t do that.”

Chorong said, “We were raised very strictly. Since there were also minors at that time, management was necessary,” then added maturely, “Looking back now, some of it made sense. We didn’t have guardians with us.”

Apink