SULLIED SULLI GOES SILENT VIA SUICIDE - WOO, TOO

Sulli looks a little depressed? 

She tried new looks, and it didn't help.

Maybe you can understand why: she went to fabulous YOUTUBE, owned by GOOGLE, and saw stuff like THIS written about her, as enraged fans felt they had the right to bully her, demand her time, and insult her.  GOOGLE would tell you that anything goes, and free speech, copyrighted images, trademarks, intellectual property be damned.

 

As for Woo, you can see that she felt just a bit isolated and alienated in this world.

    As fucked up as USA or UK “celebrity” can be, it seems to be worse in Asian countries, especially South Korea. The number of K-Pop star suicides seems disproportionate. I first became of aware of this with the passing of the beautiful Eun-Ju Lee. An actress, she sang a cover of “Only When I Sleep” in what would turn out to be her last film, "Scarlett Letter." She was excellent in comedy, horror and drama, and adorable in Korean TV commercials for beauty products AND…it turned out she could sing, too. But she couldn’t cope with her own celebrity or with depression. Cutting her wrists AND hanging herself was how she dealt with it.  

    Here are the latest casualties.

      Hye-mi Woo, who performed as Miwoo (April 6, 1988-September 21, 2019), placed in the Top 4 of “The Voice of Korea” talent show. The talented amateur turned professional, but as you'll see via her video for "Rotten Flowers," she found there was a dark flip side to K-pop.  (Note: in South Korea, they put the family name first, so she would bec alled Woo Hye-mi).

      Americans know "Sully Sullenberger," the hero he landed his plane in the Hudson River with no casualties.  The woman who was name-changed to the catchy one-word "Sulli" would be another casualty of depression and K-pop fame. In her case, cyber-bullying may have been the X-factor that made her cross over to the other side. Internet trolls accused her of drug use, losing too much weight, and worst of all, not always wearing a bra! Seriously.  

      She was born Jin-Ri Choi (oe Choi Jin-Ri -- South Korea the family name comes first, like Kim Jung-Il) March 29, 1994. She died October 14, 2019. The tall (5’7”) beauty was drafted by SM Entertainment and groomed to be a child actress. She appeared in TV shows and films from 2006 until she got her break joining the pop band f(x) in 2009. She kept up her hectic pace by continuing her acting, and in 2012 won an SBS "New Star" award for a drama about a girl who disguises herself as a boy to attend her boyfriend's school. 

       She left the band in 2015 and that seemed to disappoint fans, who then piled it on when her movie "The Real" (2017) showed scenes where her eyes were dilated. They figured this wasn't part of the make-up, but a sign she was on drugs. Fans upped the ante when they noticed bra-less photos of her, and they shamed her for losing weight. They went after her even more when she launched her solo music career with “Goblin” in June of 2019. Three months later,  another scandal erupted when she had a “wardrobe malfunction" that bared a breast. 

        Ironically, Sulli tried to defuse the deadly situation by starring on the reality show "The Night of Hate Comments." It premiered in June of 2019. Each week topics involving celebrity were discussed. The show was serious than the "Mean Tweets" segments on Jimmy Kimmel’s show, where celebrities either laughed off or sassed back at nasty comments. On a September episode Sulli defended her bralessness as something natural, but admitted she was becoming “the nuclear bomb of hate comments,” a huge target for troll rage. 

         She tried to diffuse the deadly situation by suggesting that the haters get a life: “I feel like they're wasting it by putting their energy into critiquing others like this online.” She was putting on a brave and hopeful act, but the negativity was getting to her. On one of her last appearances on the show she admitted, “My life is actually empty, so I feel like I’m lying to everyone by pretending to be happy on the outside.”

         The title track from her album "Goblin" is now rather haunting, and it includes scenes from several of her rock videos, showing her transition from alluring pop star to a confused celebrity trying out different hairstyles, make-up and personalities.