Super Junior's Leeteuk, one of Kpop Idol's most prominent leaders, who had no simple personal life. He had to struggle with his family and father apart from training at one of the biggest entertainment companies and living by their regulations.
Leeteuk doesn't pull away from sharing stories about his traumatic experience and how it impacted him. He also spoke on several instances about his depressions to inspire young people to stay optimistic and continue fighting. His troubled tale has strong roots with his father; he had publicly revealed before that his father separated his mother back in 998 and remained apart from them until the day he passed.
He admitted in a previous interview on MBC's "Good Day" that he was miserable and sad before his debut with Super Junior and how he longed to be born and raised into a better and healthier family.
He admitted that as a kid his parents argued a lot and that it had caused a great deal of stress to him. "I started to feel bitterness towards my dad," he added, so.
His father had beat him a lot and he had always been afraid of him. As a child he had abused him a lot and this contributed to his loneliness. He said, 'I have always been someone who seeks for happiness, love and protection."
In 2014, K-pop's entire world knows of a very devastating story. It was announced that Leeteuk of Super Junior lost both of his father and grandparents in one day. The precise details of their deaths were not initially published, but later the whole narrative came out and it was really disturbing.
The story goes that it has been a few years after Leeteuk's father (who had been residing with his parents after his separation) began caring for his family, his grandfather began to suffer from dementia, added that Leeteuk's grandma, who had been caring for her husband, had been afflicted with late- lung cancer and had been bedridden because of her illness.
His father had taken care of his parents but had incurred a debt of hundreds of thousands of dollars ( publicly available information) back then. He had tried to do business but it continued to fail and because of this, the house was taken. He wanted to place the parents in a hospital that would coud take better care of them but he ended his life and his parents 'lives before he did so.
The possible explanation that led to Leeteuk's father and killed his parents was that he could not afford to look after them anymore. Authorities found a suicide note and parts of it were revealed to the public, he wrote "I'm going to take my parents together and go to heaven. I am sorry for my children."
Leeteuk disclosed on several occasions in previous events that his father had managed to leave him a hateful last message before he ended his life, "Do you really believe you have all achieved great things on your own?"
Leeteuk was serving the army when he discovered out about his family's demise, and that he had also struggled against depression that moment. He said, "I was battling depression when I heard the news that my father and grandparents had passed away."
Because of his condition the military recommended they give him an early discharge. However, after speaking with his company, SM Entertainment, Leeteuk decided on completing the military service.
Leeteuk accumulated 5 million in debt from his father. He had to sell his car and accepted every permanent position available to pay his father's debt which implied that he was sleeping a couple of hours per day. Leeteuk decided he wished to do what was morally right, he announced in 2016 that he was still working to pay the debt of his father.
"I'm sharing you my story to remind you that the life of a star isn't what it looks like, it's no different from the life of someone else." he concluded.
