Lee Mi Joo opened up about her past struggles with weight and the strict rules she faced as an idol.
On September 26, the singer uploaded a video titled “K-POP trade secrets, now we can talk about it (feat. Eardrum Warning)” on her YouTube channel Just Lee Mi Joo.
The video featured OH MY GIRL’s Hyojung, Red Velvet’s Seulgi, KARA’s Heo Young Ji, and MAMAMOO members, who all shared behind-the-scenes stories from their trainee and agency days.
Hyojung recalled trying on a Lovelyz outfit that didn’t fit, and people told her, “Your seniors were that skinny.” Mi Joo then revealed, “I also had a bit of weight back then, so I barely managed to button the outfit. That shocked me, so during ‘Ah-Choo,’ I lost 8kg and went down to 44kg.”
The idols also shared some of the rules they had to follow. Seulgi said, “Back then we weren’t allowed to have phones. We only used email. At home we could use our phones, but not while on schedules.”
Heo Young Ji added, “We had a shared iPad that we passed around.”
Mi Joo shared another strict memory, saying, “When we went out for practice, our manager would secretly go into our dorm and check it. If they found food, they would take it and scold us a lot.”
The MAMAMOO members agreed, recalling, “We even had CCTV cameras. One was at the door, and another was in the kitchen.”
Seulgi also revealed, “OH MY GIRL always seemed so young. Even after their debut, two members once came holding hands to the manager and asked, ‘Can we go to the bathroom?’”
Hyojung explained that this was because managers were worried they might “make eye contact with a man or even get a note passed to us,” which drew sympathy from the cast and fans alike.
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