Park Bo-young clears up dating rumors with Kim Hee-won “Third round at café, talking until 5 AM”

Five years ago, South Korea was abuzz with dating rumors between Park Bo-young and Kim Hee-won, who have a 19-year age gap.

In January 2020, an online community post reported eyewitness accounts of the two together, leading to speculation about a romantic relationship. The rumors intensified when CCTV footage from a café captured them together, making it difficult for people to dismiss the speculation despite initial skepticism.
As the situation escalated, the café owner stepped forward to clarify. On the January 8th, 2020 broadcast of SBS’s “Access Showbiz Tonight”, an interview with the owner aired, revealing that they had posted a screenshot of the CCTV footage inside the café without Park Bo-young and Kim Hee-won’s consent.

The café owner stated in the interview “I just wanted to show off a little. I never imagined it would turn into such a big issue. I don’t even know how to apologize properly”, expressing deep regret.
Both Park Bo-young and Kim Hee-won’s agencies also released official statements, firmly denying the rumors, and the controversy eventually settled.
On February 9th, a video featuring actress Park Bo-young was released on the YouTube channel “Fairy Jaehyung”.
Park Bo-young recently starred in the Disney+ original series “Light Shop”, portraying Young-ji, a nurse with an unusual connection to her patients. Based on a webtoon by famous author Kang Full, “Light Shop” tells the story of mysterious customers visiting the only shop that brightens a dark alley, revealing hidden secrets. The series gained attention as it marked actor Kim Hee-won’s directorial debut.

When asked how she got involved in “Light Shop”, Park Bo-young explained, “I was already very close to senior Kim Hee-won. We were so close that there were even dating rumors about us.”
According to the actress, Kim Hee-won felt so guilty, he didn’t contact her for a year. “He kept saying, ‘I feel so guilty,’ and avoided reaching out. I told him, ‘Do you think our friendship would break over something like this? That makes me really upset’”, she said.

The actress continued, “Since people already knew we were close, I told him to just act naturally again. That day, we met up, had a lot of food and drinks together. As I was about to leave, he handed me a book and said, ‘This is something I’ll be working on. Just take a look casually. I’ll be directing it, so no pressure.’ But from that moment, I felt a huge sense of pressure. I wondered if he meant that I shouldn’t reject it. But I’ve always been a huge fan of writer Kang Full, and I read ‘Light Shop’ from the moment it was serialized, so I agreed to do it.”

In the same video, Park Bo-young also mentioned how she had to take a break from acting due to a dispute with her company, stating, “I took quite a break before ‘A Werewolf Boy.’ I had some conflicts with my company, so I had a hard time, but when I tried again, ‘A Werewolf Boy’ did well, so it was like a gift to me.”
Reflecting on the times when the universe seemed to try to stop her from acting, Park Bo-young confessed, “At that time, I thought a lot about going back to the countryside, and my father just told me to come down and work at a factory.”