Cha Joo-young Breaks Down in Tears “Debuted at 27, Told to Just Get Married, My Gums Receded”
On the February 19 broadcast of tvN’s “You Quiz on the Block” (You Quiz), Cha Joo-young appeared as a guest and shared various stories.
Reflecting on her journey, Cha Joo-young said, “I have always felt like an outsider, like I never truly belonged anywhere.”
Debuting at the age of 27, she had promised her father that she would succeed as an actress before turning 30. If she failed, she would go back to studying.
“I lived abroad alone from a young age, and even after debuting, I still felt the same. Everyone else had connections, but I had none in Korea. I didn’t know how to navigate acting itself, what questions to ask, or whether what I was doing was right. I felt like I was barely getting by each day,” she said, tearing up.
She continued, “I had studied abroad and was focused on academics, but people would say, ‘Why don’t you just get married instead of doing this?’ I thought, ‘But that’s not what I want.’ It was hard to even explain. Everything felt so uncertain. Writing ‘actress’ as my profession felt embarrassing, and I wasn’t used to talking about myself.” She then broke down in tears.
She recalled, “I wanted to build my own strength. I wanted to create something that was truly mine, no matter what it was. I told myself, ‘This is your job. There’s no turning back.’“
Cha Joo-young also revealed the extreme lengths she goes to for her work, saying, “When I’m filming, I don’t sleep. I can’t. My gums have receded completely. I don’t know how to take shortcuts, so I just keep going until I get it right. If I fail, then that’s it.” She added, “I need to fulfill my role properly so I can introduce myself as an actress.”
Meanwhile, Cha Joo-young shared her close friendship with “The Glory” co-stars Song Hye-kyo and Lim Ji-yeon. She said, “We still meet up, talk about our projects, and just hang out comfortably.” She added, “When we get together, we eat a lot. We always go for delicious food and relieve stress that way. We even go to pubs and sometimes order 20 plates of food.”