"I Was Going to Retire" Lee Dong Wook Tells How Gong Yoo Helped Him During a Deep Slump

Actor Lee Dong Wook opened up about the tough time he had when JTBC's television series 'Life' (2018), in which he played the main character, got bad reviews.

On February 6, Lee Dong Wook joined a live broadcast on producer Na Young-seok's YouTube channel.

During the broadcast, Lee Dong Wook said, "I experienced a deep slump after working on 'Life'. It was so serious that I didn't leave my house for almost a month."

After the success of the first season of tvN's hit series 'Stranger' (2017), its writer, Lee Soo-yeon's next project, 'Life', was expected to be another hit; however, the viewer rating for 'Life' was 4-5%, which was lower than what people expected.
"I was unhappy with my acting in the series and the whole situation.", Lee Dong Wook recalled, "The drama was getting online hate, and all of that negativity seemed to be directed at me. I started to think I was to blame, and felt bad about it."

Lee Dong Wook then shocked the producer by saying, "Actually, I was going to retire. I never said this on air, but I seriously considered retiring and moving to another country."

"I thought the series would have been more popular and successful without me. I felt I shouldn't be acting anymore.", he said.

"The only thing I did during that period was exercise because I started to feel like I was a useless person. I thought exercising would help me get out of the negative thoughts that had been recurring in my head.", he said, adding, "But I didn't become more muscular or anything because I drank after working out."
The actor then mentioned someone who helped him overcome his slump: actor Gong Yoo, who worked with him in tvN's drama 'Guardian: The Lonely and Great God' (2016).

"He's the one who got me out of my house.", Lee Dong Wook recalled.

"He just called me one day and told me to step out and join him, telling me he was already on his way to pick me up. I didn't want to see him because I thought he'd try to talk about my state. Sharing what I was going through with someone else felt pointless, as there wasn't a solution.", he said.

"However, he didn't ask anything about it. We had casual conversations that day, and it got me thinking, 'This is the world I belong.'. I had been obsessed with how people online perceived me. But there was a real world outside, and that was where I belonged. I started getting out of my house after realizing it."

(Credit= '채널십오야' YouTube, Management SOOP, JTBC Life)

(SBS Star)