Former T-Ara Member Areum Raises Concerns with Odd Internet Behavior, Netizens Draw Comparisons to American Actress Amanda Bynes

Former T-ara member Areum is acting a bit strange these days and netizens are getting worried.

If there is one thing K-Pop girl group T-ara is known for aside from their music, it is their reputation as mean girls after a bully controversy among the members went public.

When the group's agency Core Contents Media announced in July of this year that Areum would be leaving the group in order to pursue her own solo activities as early as next year, not very many other details were revealed. Netizens, however, predicted the lineup change had a lot more to do with personality clashes in the group than a willing departure on Areum's part.

The pity many internet users expressed toward the former T-Ara singer have now shifted to sincere concern.

It has been noted in many public forums that Areum's Instagram account has become a bit confusing to look at.

The singer has been posting strange photos of herself and has a bizarre new haircut. She also has gone as far as to post videos of herself speaking to what appears to be 'invisible friends.'

On November 9, she posted a message to her followers saying, "My birthday! A day has passed. Everyone in Korea, wait for me. I will! Make sure to kill the pain in your hearts. You're all having a hard time because of that, right? Day by day. Wait a bit for me. I, Lee Areum, is one child. I've lived all this while with the best positivity. The wish I made this time is the happiness of the world. It's not long from now so remain smiling. Promise me. I'll promise you. Promise me. Smile for now."

The strange post seems even more strange when one considers Areum's real birthday is April 19.

As if that is not enough, on November 14 Areum wrote another perplexing post online.

"The people I hate the most right now are the CEO, unnis, and the journalists! If only you gave me your pretty heart, but not even that... I don't care for things like that but don't regret it," she wrote.

The next bit of her post was difficult to understand and translate as it is essentially a run-on sentence with many grammatical errors, but then Areum continues, "The human heart responds truthfully but I can embrace even the people who write hateful comments."

She finished by saying, "Why do you make the people who love me receive hate?"

This strange behavior has caused many netizens to voice their concern about Areum's current mental state, likening her actions to those of American actress Amanda Bynes. Bynes made headlines over the past several months for her strange and erratic behavior, particularly through social media, and is now receiving mental treatment.

Is this the fate Areum can expect in the near future? Many fans are certainly pushing for it.

All around the internet there is a general air of concern and many people are calling for Areum's family and friends to intervene and get the young star help before things progress to far.

What do you think is going on with the former member of T-ara? Is it bad stress management, or has Areum really lost it? Share your thoughts in the comments area below.

Note: One comment on a Netizenbuzz article did offer an explanation of the "birthday" post:
"On Instagram, not sure if it's international but in Korea, her birthday's 4/19, so she posted at 4:20 saying a minute passed since her birthday. It's not that weird. Among fans, some send her tweets at 4:19 to wish her a "happy birthday(time)" or they call it "Areum time" so she's not losing it because she wished herself happy birthday."