[Sportschosun Lee Woo-joo] DJ DOC's Lee Haneul looked back on a difficult period in his life, when several setbacks hit at once.
On the 13th, a video titled "The Hardest Time During My Entertainment Career (From Divorce to COVID-19)" was uploaded to Lee Haneul's YouTube channel.
In the video, Lee Haneul talked about the toughest period of his entertainment career. He said, "While working with DJ DOC, I always lived thinking that I could make money whenever I wanted and that things were good enough. I had savings and thought I was financially stable, but after my divorce, I gave away the cash and other assets I had. I kept thinking, 'I can just earn more later.' But after my younger brother passed away and I fell out with Chang-yeol, DJ DOC's gigs stopped. My primary source of income disappeared, and just as I was struggling with that, COVID-19 hit and even the occasional gigs we had were all canceled."
Lee Haneul said, "For three years, my fixed monthly expenses were around 15 million to 20 million won. During COVID-19, I covered several hundred million won with the money I had, as if pulling out a tooth without anesthesia. In the end, I even had to start doing internet broadcasting." He added, "The reason I started internet broadcasting at the time was that when DOC was still active, we had signed contracts in advance for several concerts and received several hundred million won. That is called an advance payment. But as DOC stopped activities, the company asked us to return the money we had received under the contract."
Lee Haneul stated, "Suddenly, all the situations I had mentioned kept piling up, and I ended up in a position where I had to pay out several hundred million won at once. It came to about 200 million won. They even said that if things went wrong, they would turn it into a news story to get their money back. They said they would file a police complaint and use the media to pressure us." He continued, "If that situation had gone forward, I don't think DOC would have had another chance to get back on its feet. So I settled it with the money I earned from internet broadcasting. Chang-yeol handled his part, and I handled mine. Jae-yong was in a bad situation at the time, so I stopped it by saying, 'Please be careful with Jae-yong's part. I will guarantee it.' We held on like that for a year."
Meanwhile, after Lee Haneul's younger brother and 45RPM member Lee Hyun-bae died in 2021, Lee Haneul angrily claimed that Kim Chang-yeol was involved in his death. At the time, Lee Haneul said Lee Hyun-bae and Kim Chang-yeol had agreed to run a guesthouse business together, but Kim suddenly pulled out, citing low profitability and other reasons. Lee Hyun-bae then faced financial difficulties, was injured in an accident while working a delivery part-time job, and could not even afford an MRI. He later died from complications.
After more than three years without contact, the two appeared to reconcile in 2024 when they reunited as a full group with Jung Jae-yong. However, last December, Lee Haneul and Jung Jae-yong held a year-end concert without Kim Chang-yeol, sparking renewed rumors of a rift. Lee Haneul and Jung Jae-yong are currently running a gopchang restaurant together and appear to be on good terms.
wjlee@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
