Senior Actress Announces Drastic Career Switch Amid Dire Financial Difficulties

A veteran actress recently shared her fascinating career switch amid financial hardships.

Actress Jung Ga Eun, who rose to fame as a frequent face on popular variety shows across major broadcasters such as MBC, SBS, KBS, and tvN, recently posted a video on her YouTube channel revealing that she was starting a new career as a taxi driver.

In the YouTube video, she showed her preparation process for the license exam, teaming up with YouTuber Park Rae Ho, who makes traffic-related content. Park was impressed by Jung’s level of preparation and encouraged her to give her best.

Jung Ga Eun had already revealed her intent to pursue this career in a previous video. The actress explained that her motivation behind the decision was her father, who had been a private taxi driver for over 30 years.

She expressed her wish for her first passenger to be her father, who is currently fighting esophageal cancer.

Another motivation for Jung to become a taxi driver was the money involved. The actress revealed that according to her research, if one worked really hard, they could earn around ₩10.0 million KRW (about $7,180 USD) per month in this job. She exclaimed that the amount was better than what major companies offer to office-going workers.

Jung Ga Eun made her debut in the entertainment industry in 2001 as a model and became a popular TV personality within a few years. She married a businessman in 2016 and gave birth to her daughter, but the couple divorced in 2018.

Later, it was reported that her former husband had committed fraud under her name. He was found to be involved in 660 cases, having defrauded a total amount of ₩13.2 billion KRW (about $9.47 million USD). He also reportedly had a bad history of fraud before his marriage. While he was with Jung, he took over ₩100 million KRW (about $71,800 USD) from her under the pretext of investments and tax payments.

After their divorce, Jung’s husband has failed to pay any alimony or child support, and he has reportedly been living abroad for over five years, evading legal consequences of his crimes.

Jung has been very candid about her financial struggles publicly. During one of her earlier television appearances, she talked about the raw reality of her life, revealing that she never got any new work after filming the 2023 movie, Tales of Nobody. She admitted that initially, her financial condition terrified her, but eventually, she decided to live within her means.

This new career path as a taxi driver is concrete evidence of Jung Ga Eun’s resolute mindset to keep pushing forward for her and her child’s sake.

You can watch her latest YouTube video here: