[Sportschosun, Reporter Lee Ga-eun] Viewers were saddened after footage showed a 17-year-old eldest son eating alone in his room, cut off from his family. The conflicts he had experienced with his stepfather following his mother's divorce and remarriage were also revealed.
On the 14th, MBC's 'Oh Eun-young's Report: Marriage Hell' ('Marriage Hell') aired the second episode of the 'No. 1 Couple,' a remarried family, following last week's broadcast.
The 17-year-old eldest son cautiously emerged from his room in the early morning, while the rest of the family was asleep. He hurriedly carried frozen or ready-to-eat food into his room and ate there. He had cut himself off from his family and spent nearly all his time in his room. His mother shed tears as she said, "I'm worried because he's so thin. He weighs less than 50 kilograms—around 49 kilograms."
It turned out that the mother divorced when her eldest son was 10 months old and remarried her current husband 10 years later. Her new husband moved into the home where she lived with her first son, and the younger siblings were born afterward. The husband recalled meeting the boy for the first time, saying, "My eldest son wouldn't make eye contact. He seemed different from ordinary shy children."
The family later sought counseling at the husband's suggestion, and the son was diagnosed with selective mutism. The mother wept with remorse, saying, "Did my divorce cause him to suffer because I couldn't provide a stable environment?"
The mother acknowledged that she had never had a serious conversation with her eldest son about her divorce and remarriage. She said it was because she was not emotionally prepared to answer his questions about his father. Oh Eun-young criticized her, saying, "The mother doesn't communicate with her child in the same way she doesn't communicate with her husband."
The eldest son found his relationship with the husband particularly difficult. Although the husband said he had tried to grow closer to him, he complained that the boy would not open up. He also appeared to draw a line between himself and the eldest son, telling his wife, "Even taking care of our own children is overwhelming." In an interview, the husband added, "I suppose there's nothing I can do about the fact that we're not related by blood and that I didn't father him."
After examining the series of conflicts, Oh Eun-young expressed concern over the extremely thin boy, saying, "High anxiety can be harmful to a child's health. It can lead to insomnia and loss of appetite, and the child may not grow taller or gain weight. Looking at him now, he is very thin."
joyjoy90@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
