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[SBS Star] 4 Celebrities Who Beat Poverty and Became the Breadwinner at an Early Age

[SBS Star] 4 Celebrities Who Beat Poverty and Became the Breadwinner at an Early Age
There are certain things that spring to mind when thinking about celebrities―a huge house, a nice car, and fancy clothes.

However, their wealth and success wasn't built in a day since some of them actually had a pretty rough childhood.

They must have worked non-stop and pushed themselves to the limit to achieve financial stability and come this far.

Let's take a closer look at each one of these brave and determined celebrities, and find out what kinds of struggles they had to overcome.

1. SEJEONG of gugudan
SEJEONG
In 2017, K-pop girl group gugudan's member SEJEONG opened up about her past on JTBC's variety show 'Thank you for the Food' (literal translation).
SEJEONG
SEJEONG said, "When I was in middle school, the government used to issue a card for the destitute to prevent them from starving during the vacation. The limit was only 3,500 won (approximately 3 dollars), so we couldn't buy anything expensive but I could eat jajangmyeon (black bean paste noodles) thanks to that card."
SEJEONG
She added, "Back then, MBC's drama 'Pasta' was a big hit. So my mom and I made a promise to earn a lot of money, eat all kinds of pasta, and pay it with cash."

SEJEONG did not forget to add a word of encouragement at the end, and the other hosts of the show were moved by her courageous and positive attitude.

2. Hyeri of Girl's Day
Hyeri
After she got her name out there as an actress with tvN's beloved drama 'reply1988', K-pop girl group Girl's Day's member Hyeri made more than 1 billion won (approximately 884,955 dollars) by filming numerous TV commercials.

In one episode of tvN's variety show 'Taxi', Hyeri revealed that she always wanted to pay back the love and support she got from her parents ever since she was a little kid.
Hyeri
Hyeri said, "My mom had to work at a factory for almost 15 years and I felt terrible about that. I felt like she wasted her youth because of me."
Hyeri
She added, "But that gave me an energy to go on. It worked as an internal motivation and made me want to work even harder."

3. Park Bo Gum
Park Bo Gum
In September, it was reported that actor Park Bo Gum had to file for bankruptcy because of his father.

Back in 2008, his father made him co-sign a loan when borrowing 300 million won (approximately 265,643 dollars) from the lender, but it turned out that he was still a minor and only 15 years old at the time.
Park Bo Gum
The lender asked Park Bo Gum to repay the debt instead of his father after he made his debut as an actor, but they asked him to pay back 800 million won (approximately 708,278 dollars); not 300 million won due to high interest.
Park Bo Gum
For this reason, Park Bo Gum filed for bankruptcy and applied for exemption from the shared responsibility in 2014.

4. IU
IU
In one episode of KBS' talk show 'Onwards and Upwards' (literal title), K-pop artist IU shared a few stories from her childhood and made the viewers all teary.

IU said, "When I was in primary school, we were doing just fine. But then all of a sudden, we had to live on a street because everything went terribly wrong after my mom co-signed a loan."
IU
She added, "I saw my parents fighting for the first time, and they sequestrated all of our stuffs. We had to live in separate houses, so I lived with my grandmother, brother and cousins."
IU
IU continued, "I lived with my grandmother for one and a half year, and she provided for me and my brother during that time by running a little street vendor."

(Kang Eunbee, Credit= KBS, JTBC, CHANNEL A, SBS funE)

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