Appearing on neighbor and fellow single mom Kim Hyun-sook’s YouTube channel, Lee got candid about parenting, paying the bills, and reentering the workforce―topics she admits she’s rarely discussed publicly.
“It’s make money, care for the kids, and there’s no one to help,” Kim said of the day-to-day grind. Noting how much they share in common, she asked Lee if she’d been receiving child support. When Lee shook her head, Kim didn’t mince words: “People who skip child support are f---ing a--holes.” She added that she’s honest with her kids about it: there’s a court-ordered amount, but she’s only seen it twice.
Lee married a non-celebrity seven years her senior in 2013 and welcomed a daughter and a son. After their 2016 divorce, she raised both children herself. She remarried an ophthalmologist in 2017, but the couple split in 2020; Lee has continued parenting solo ever since.
She shared that child-support battles wore her down. “I told my kids early on: their dad has obligations, but mom is doing it all,” Lee said, revealing she filed two lawsuits over unpaid support. “Raising them alone felt unbearable―like being left in the middle of a desert.”
To keep her family afloat, Lee went after a national cosmetology license. She passed the written exam on the first try, but failed the practical seven times―sticking with it for a year and three months as she shuttled to and from the testing site.
“I walked into the national exam alone, spent the full five hours, and came out feeling so lonely―like I was the last person left in the world,” she recalled. Lee finally passed in March and is now completing a six-month hands-on training course, gearing up for a new chapter as a hair designer. “My fingers ached, but when I give a client a pressure massage, I just want them to leave feeling lighter,” she said, sounding proud of her second act.
“That’s a mom’s strength,” Kim told her. “You’re the coolest you’ve ever been. This is the best version of Ji-hyun I’ve known.”
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)