Comedian Kim Shin-young opened up about finally letting go of her long-running obsession with dieting — and the aching longing she still feels for the late Jeon Yoo-sung.
On the June 10 episode of tvN variety show You Quiz on the Block, Kim Shin-young appeared to talk candidly about weight loss, rebound weight gain, and her final life-changing conversation with Jeon Yoo-sung.
Kim once dropped from 88 kg to 44 kg and kept that weight for a staggering 13 years. Recently, however, she made headlines for gaining weight again. "It took just six weeks to come back," she admitted. "It felt so futile." As for why she maintained her weight so long, she confessed, "Part of me thought, 'Do you know how hard I worked to lose it?' But honestly, I hated hearing, 'I knew Kim Shin-young would go back.'" She added, "I thought dieting meant I wasn’t stressed, but once I ate, the world felt easy again. Looking back, I had become really prickly."
The person who changed her mindset was Jeon Yoo-sung. Recalling the final moments she spent by his side, Kim said, "After the doctor removed the oxygen mask, he told me, 'I’m craving jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup), but I can’t eat it. You should live eating what you want.'" That single line stayed with her. "For 13 years, I told him way too often, 'I can’t eat that,'" Kim said. "Even when he bought me a birthday cake, I said, 'I can’t. I’m scared of gaining weight.' I think, in his eyes, I had become someone who shouldn’t eat anything."
At the funeral, his words hit even harder. "I asked myself what I needed to do to be happy," she said. "What flashed first wasn’t the years I endured to stay 44 kg — it was all the times I kept pushing away the foods I wanted." After that, Kim started eating again. Joking that "If you eat eight chocolate cakes a week, you bounce back fast," she shared that letting go of her food taboos and fixation finally brought her peace of mind.
Kim also reflected on what Jeon Yoo-sung meant to her. "He was the first adult who ever praised me and told me I was doing well," she recalled. "He even came with me when I took the comedian exam."
During the period when she halted broadcasting due to panic disorder, Jeon was her rock. "When I told him people said I was 'washed up,' he told me, 'It’s okay. After one tide goes out and a second follows, you become a treasure,'" Kim said. She grew teary as she revealed she learned at the funeral that Jeon had sought out and read books about panic disorder for her sake.
Meanwhile, Kim Shin-young has recently been delivering laughs at home through variety shows like I Live Alone and Knowing Bros.