"Led to Nightlife Venues by Her Mother’s Affair"... Lee Hee-gu Makes Shocking Confession About Her Teenage Years ('While You Were Sick')

[Sportschosun, Lee Ge-eun] Comedian Lee Hee-gu opened up about her painful family history and burst into tears.

Lee Hee-gu appeared on the MBN program 'While You Were Sick,' which aired on the 5th.

Lee Hee-gu said she was revealing her story about her mother on television for the first time. As soon as she began, she teared up and said, "I think I was a child who was abandoned from the moment I was born. My mother showed so little interest in me that I could not even get vaccinated."

She shocked viewers by saying her mother never settled down at home and was always out, and that because of her mother, she had gone to cabarets and nightclubs while she was in high school. "My parents fought often because my mother had affairs and stayed out overnight. When my father pressed her about why she came home so late, she made up an excuse, saying, 'I was waiting for Hee-gu to finish her evening study session.' My mother took me along to create an alibi. She put me in a nightclub and bought me a bottle of cola, and one day she took me to a cabaret. While my mother danced and had fun, I had to sit there and watch her," she said through tears.

The panel asked why she agreed to her mother’s suggestion to go to nightlife venues, and Lee Hee-gu said, "If I did not go along with it, my parents’ fights would spiral beyond imagination. As long as I kept my mouth shut, peace would come." Her words added to the sadness.

Even after she entered her 20s, her mother’s strange behavior continued. Lee, who had been living separately from her mother, said, "She called me out, and I went because I wanted to see her. At the time, my mother was running a bar, but I later found out she had called me to entertain customers." The revelation came as another shock.

She went on to say, "I could not bear that situation," and explained that she was deeply hurt, as if her existence had been denied, to the point that she even attempted suicide.

Lee Hee-gu later learned that her mother had borderline intellectual functioning. "I realized she did not have the ability to make sound judgments, so I thought I had to stay away from her," she said, adding that she later moved to Seoul and became an entertainer.

More hardship followed. In 2001, her father was diagnosed with dementia, and her mother was diagnosed with the same condition afterward. Lee, who had been active on television, had to focus entirely on caregiving.

Lee Hee-gu said, "I am not sure what this feeling is. I really hated my mother and did not want to see her again. I did not even want to tell anyone she was my mother. But after she developed dementia, she said in a childlike voice, 'I have the most fun playing with Hee-gu. Take me with you. I will not do anything bad.'" She then broke down in tears over her conflicting emotions.

Lee spent 14 years away from work while caring for her parents, which caused financial hardship and debt. To make a living, she took various part-time jobs at restaurants and elsewhere. She later earned a caregiver certification and worked as a professional caregiver at a university hospital. "I have overcome everything, and these hardships became the foundation of my life. Nothing in this world is wasted. I want to thank myself," she said.

joyjoy90@sportschosun.com