[Sportschosun Lee Ji-hyun] Comedian Mirage opened up about a painful period after her mother's death, saying she even lost her sense of taste and struggled to hold herself together through the grief.
On the July 7 episode of SBS's "Same Bed, Different Dreams 2: You Are My Destiny," the show followed the daily lives of Heo Anna and Oh Gyeong-ju, a couple coping with pet loss syndrome after saying goodbye to their pet, as well as their close friend Mirage, who visited to comfort them.
That day, Mirage recalled the time she lost her mother three months earlier, saying, "Just having someone beside you when you're going through a hard time may seem like nothing, but it can be a huge source of strength."
She prepared six servings of jeon and LA galbi (LA-style grilled beef short ribs) for Heo Anna and her husband, saying sincerely, "I wanted to create the busy, lively atmosphere of the holidays."
In response to Heo Anna's remark that she felt depressed "as soon as I open my eyes," Mirage said, "Even when you're sad, you have to keep doing something. After my mother passed away, I made sure to go outside on any day I had off through April and May." She added, "If showing how hard it is could solve anything, I would have shown it as much as I wanted," explaining that she tried hard to overcome her grief on her own.
Mirage also revealed that she lost her sense of taste after her mother's death. "Even when I had COVID-19, I didn't lose my sense of smell or taste, but after my mother passed away, I couldn't taste anything at all," she said.
She continued, "My mother passed away in mid-March, but even before that I had been caring for her, sleeping in front of the hospital, so I was physically and emotionally exhausted." She recalled, "After the funeral, I came home and thought I had to eat something, so I ordered sushi. The tuna and egg tasted exactly the same. I thought, 'This is really bad.'"
"I tried spicy golbaengi, and I even ordered cream soup for dinner, but I couldn't taste anything," Mirage said. "Then, only after eating charcoal-grilled barbecue did my sense of taste slowly start to come back."
She added, "I realized that if I wanted to overcome my grief, I had to make the effort myself. Over two days, I ate more than 20 different foods." She went on, "When I'm extremely sad, the only time I can stop thinking about anything is when I'm eating. If even that doesn't work, I wondered how I was supposed to keep living."
She calmly said, "In the end, the only person who can protect me is me. That's why I tried even harder," explaining why she fought to get through such a difficult time on her own.
olzllovely@sportschosun.com
