4 K-Pop Idols Who Became Celebrities To Help Their Struggling Family
There are plenty of K-Pop idols who had to grow up in tough environments. Some of these idols even decided to become celebrities due to their tough situation, as they made it their goal to help their family. Here’s a list of some K-Pop idols who became celebrities to help their struggling family.
1. Sunmi
Sunmi has revealed in the past that she chose to become a celebrity at a young age due to her home situation, where her father was too ill to work.
Honestly, I decided to become a celebrity because of my dad.
When I was in 5th grade, I lived with just my dad and my two younger brothers. But my dad was sick, and it continued to get worse. He would wear breathing masks at home, but it got so bad that he had to go to the hospital. Our financial situation was poor, but my dad couldn’t move and
I was the oldest child. I wondered what I could do. My teachers told me to become a teacher but you have to study for over 10 years for that. I needed money now.
— Sunmi
When Sunmi was 14 years old, she got accepted to JYP Entertainment.
However, becoming a trainee at such a young age, and being away from home, she became overwhelmed and began ignoring her father’s messages.
But I was so tired from being a trainee and my stress continued to pile up. And with my dad’s situation… It was too much for me to handle at a young age.”
— Sunmi
He passed away 3 months before I debuted. If only he had held on a little bit longer… He also dreamed of becoming an artist. When I went to prepare his funeral, my brothers gave me a letter from him. At the end, he wrote, ‘I hope you’re my daughter in the next life too.’”
— Sunmi
2. Taeyang (BIGBANG)
When Taeyang was 13 years old, he decided to move out of his home, and try to become an idol, as he wanted to help his family who was struggling financially.
He ended up traveling to Seoul and eventually got accepted to YG Entertainment, who at the time wasn’t a big company.
However, Taeyang ended up debuting as a member of BIGBANG and helped not only his family but helped build YG Entertainment to what it is today.
3. Dara (Former member of 2NE1)
Dara had a rough childhood due to her father going bankrupt. Dara’s family eventually moved to the Philippines with the hopes of her father rebuilding his career. However, her father ended up having a secret second family in Korea, and soon abandoned Dara’s family. Not only that, but her father also wasted all the money they had on gambling.
All of this motivated Dara to become successful and provide for her family. When Dara debuted as an actress and singer in the Philippines, she was quite successful.
Dara would later get offered by YG Entertainment to become a trainee, and eventually became a member of 2NE1.
4. Chanmi (AOA)
In 2009, Chanmi and her mother were featured on KBS’s Human Documentary, and during the conversation, Chanmi told her mother that she became a celebrity so that she could help her.
The reason I wanted to start making money early was that you would work from early morning to late at night without a house to call your own.
After you paid the rent and our school fees, we’d have no money left and I hated that.
The reason I decided to try and become a celebrity was that I thought it would be able to help provide an environment for me to make money faster.
People think that it’s easy to be a star and wear pretty clothes, and I thought that it would be easy to make money if you did well after debuting. I never realize until now that this isn’t something you can do forever.
— Chanmi
