There is a saying that the road to success is not a bed of roses and this is true especially for celebrities. Coming off her recent success with JTBC drama 'Strong Woman Do Bong Soon,' Park Bo-young opened about how she was bullied at school for acting in dramas.
Speaking to Insight.co.kr, on April 22, as noted by Soompi, Park Bo-young revealed that her High School days were difficult and that she was bullied by other school-children for being an actor. While in middle school, Park Bo-young acted, for the first time, in a short film made by her video production club in middle school. She then took acting lessons and after auditioning for several years, was cast in a youth drama, EBS network's 'Secret Campus,' opposite then newcomer Lee Min-ho.
Bo-young's schoolmates couldn't accept that she was on the way to stardom while they led ordinary lives. They began making their displeasure felt. "It wasn't because I was pretty. There were no actors in my neighbourhood back then, so I got attention just for being an actress," she said. She then described in detail the unjust treatment she received at the hands of other students. "Some kids would deliberately knock shoulders with me while passing by. Students from other classes would then put trash all over my seat, and the kids in my class would try to clean it up for me," she recalled.
The actress revealed how other people would mock her saying, "Park Bo Young is becoming a celebrity? I guess I can become one, too." This jealousy also manifested in a desire to prove they were no less than their hated friend and eventually, many acting schools and academies opened up in her hometown, following her debut.
Park Bo-young also added that when the poster of 'Secret Campus' was brought to the school, her teacher tried to display it but she started crying and begged the teacher to take the poster down because she thought the image of her on the poster would encourage her schoolmates further in bullying her.
Though Park Bo-young does feel the stress of showbiz and gets depressed often, as she revealed recently, she has come a long way from being a bullied school child. Those that mis-treated her must be scratching their heads and biting their nails, seeing that their harassing couldn't stop Bo-young from becoming one of the most popular actresses in South Korea and loved all across Asia as well.
Park Bo-young's story is a story of success against odds. It will inspire others who have been bullied, to never lose faith in their dreams and abilities and keep fighting. Superhuman or not, she has proven herself to be a sensitive soul and a strong woman at the same time. Recently, there were rumours that she was dating her younger co-star Park Hyung-sik, but both the actors have laughed it off.
However, Park Bo-young also admitted in a recent interview as noted by Soompi that she has been paying attention to Park Hyung-sik for a long time. "I've been watching Park Hyung Sik since his ZE:A days. I know all of their title songs and even got tested on their songs by Park Hyung Sik," she said with a laugh, "We would even play ZE:A songs on set and Hyung Sik would dance the choreography to their songs."
She also clarified that Park Hyung-sik's sweet gaze was not exclusively for her, but for almost everyone in the production crew. It's just that the viewers could only see him being sweet on Do Bong-soon. "I wasn't the only one Park Hyung Sik looked at like that. He even looks at the male actors like that. He's just an individual who naturally has a sweet gaze. If he only looked at me like that, I definitely would have swooned but he even looks at the director like that."
Bo-young also explained how Hyung-sik and Ji Soo are completely opposite personalities. "Park Hyung Sik has a lot of aegyo (cuteness) while Ji Soo, perhaps because he has an older sister, was really good at taking care of others. Ji Soo continued to use a formal tone with me until the very end; however, Park Hyung Sik, talked to me informally right away and said 'Bong Soon-ah, have you eaten yet?' They are charming in completely opposite ways," she said.
