Divorced Actress Finally Addresses Her “12 Days of Marriage”—Where Is The Problematic Ex-Husband Now?

Actors Lee Chan and Lee Min Young got married in December 2006, two years after co-starring in the 2004 K-Drama, Precious Family. The marriage became a legend in the Korean entertainment world, though, once it ended in two weeks with a violent divorce.

Fast forward to 2025, Lee Min Young guest-starred in a recent episode of SBS Plus and E Channel‘s Because I’m Solo, opening up about her scandalous divorce for the first time in two decades.

Talking to her friends who have been meaning to “take Min Young out more,” the actress, now 49 years old, responded, “I’m actually living a happy life on my own. When I was younger, I used to dream of being a devoted wife and mother, so I think people aren’t very comfortable seeing me alone. They seem to worry about me.”

In fact, when her fellow actress and show host Hwang Jung Eum asked if her friends had ever tried setting her up on dates, Lee Min Young noted that past attempts didn’t lead anywhere.

Hwang Jung Eum: Do your friends ever try setting you up with their husbands’ friends?

Lee Min Young: Yes, and I’ve met one or two like that before, but it hasn’t been easy.

Then the friends reminisced about what happened 20 years ago and how Lee Min Young was plagued by rumors about her private life. When one commented, “If it were now, I don’t think things would have gone down the same way,” Lee Min Young agreed and said, “If it were now, I don’t think I would have made the same decision” about the assault and the divorce.

I had never looked up my name before, but my friends told me there were some really absurd stories going around about me, so I searched. And I found unbelievable things being said about situations that never even happened. One rumor leads to another, and I didn’t even know where to begin untangling it all. I was young and immature at the time and couldn’t properly tell my side of the story. I didn’t know what to do, so I just left it all to be. I’m not the type to express myself well, so when something bad happened, I shut down even more. At one point, I was on the verge of losing speech and started stuttering.

— Lee Min Young

The actress expressed how regretful she has grown for not speaking out about the blatant rumors and protecting herself at the time. She noted that a lot of the hearsay that had circulated was “truly outrageous.”

My whole family is like me, so we didn’t talk about it. They just said, ‘As long as you’re okay and alive, that’s what matters,’ and we moved on. But the situation was so shocking, I couldn’t think clearly. At the time, you couldn’t speak out unless it was through the media. But even that scared me. I’m not good at expressing myself, and without a platform, I just hid away.

It was my fault for not speaking up back then. I stayed silent, thinking that talking about it would only stir up more trouble—and I still regret that to this day. Things that never even happened became accepted as facts with people saying, ‘I heard it was like this,’ or ‘Isn’t that what happened?’ I realized there are so many truly outrageous stories out there.

— Lee Min Young

Lee Min Young and Lee Chan tied the knot on December 10, 2006 and just 12 days later, on December 22, both families reportedly agreed to annul the marriage. The couple had not yet registered the marriage. Amid swirling rumors and speculation about the cause of the breakup, suspicions of physical assault arose from an interview Lee Min Young’s mother gave to the press, where she said, “After they returned from their honeymoon, there was a big fight that led to a major incident. I rescued my daughter afterward.”

These suspicions were confirmed by Lee Min Young herself. It was reported that, on December 19, Lee Min Young was diagnosed with a fractured nasal bone and underwent a two-hour surgery to repair the fracture. According to the hospital’s medical report, she required hospitalization due to “other wrist and hand injuries, knee contusions, cervical sprain/strain, concussion, bruising around the eye and orbital area, and fibular tuberosity injury.” Lee Minyoung stated these injuries, as well as the miscarriage of her baby, resulted from an assault by Lee Chan.

On January 2, 2007, Lee Min Young shared the details of what happened and what led to the divorce in an interview from her hospital room. With medical tape on her nose and visible bruising around her eyes, she struggled to speak but calmly recounted the incident on December 19. Lee Chan first denied Lee Min Young’s claim that his assault led to the miscarriage…

I apologize a hundred times for the violence. But it was just seven or eight slaps exchanged by both sides, and that is not the direct cause of her miscarriage. I never kicked her in the stomach… Minyoung must feel the same way as I do. We will be together again.

— Lee Chan

…but later, when his text messages to the actress on December 20 and 21 were revealed, the court eventually ruled in her favor.

Lee Chan: I’ll never do that again. I promise, for real. Please forgive me just once. Minyoung, I did it all. It was my fault.

Lee Chan: Our little bean was a girl… so she would have been Min Ji… My heart is breaking. I’m sorry, Min Young.

In January 2008, Lee Chan was indicted without detention on charges of assaulting Lee Min Young and was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years, along with 240 hours of community service. In its ruling, the court stated, “It is acknowledged that the defendant committed assault on seven occasions during their seven-month relationship, either while dating or in a de facto marital relationship. He also continued the abuse after the victim became pregnant, resulting in a fractured nasal bone, among other injuries. The nature of the crime is severe.”

He got remarried in February 2010 and is known to have one son. He was reported to have left the entertainment world to pursue a restaurant business, though not a lot is known about his whereabouts now. He tried debuting as a trot singer in 2017.

Read more:

The Actress-Actor Couple Whose Marriage Violently Ended After Just 12 Days