First-gen “ulzzang” star Hong Young-gi got brutally honest, spilling everything from her peak-era fame to married life.
On the 8th, Hong Young-gi guested on YouTube’s No Back Tak Jae-hoon, where she candidly revisited the craze around her Ulzzang Generation Season 1 days and opened up about her family.
“Unlike other ulzzang friends, people liked that I wasn’t fake and that I was straightforward,” Hong reflected.
She also shared a shocking moment that proved just how big her popularity was. “Back in high school, a letter came to my school—it was a fan letter sent from prison,” she revealed, surprising everyone. When Tak Jae-hoon asked, “Weren’t you scared?” Hong replied, “Not at all,” adding, “I was touched thinking that, because of me, someone could feel happy even while in jail.” She continued, “The letter said, ‘Thanks to you, I’m always smiling and having a good time.’ Reading that made me want to work even harder.”
The conversation then turned to her still-viral appeal. Mentioning Hong’s bikini photos, Tak Jae-hoon said, “You’re a mom of two, but I bet men hit on you all the time without realizing you’re a mom.” Hong laughed and admitted, “They do—a lot.”
Asked whether she had any second thoughts about marrying young, Hong stayed true to her unfiltered style. “Just yesterday I thought, ‘If only I hadn’t gotten married so early,’” she joked. “I want to meet men from around the world—every background,” she added, sending the studio into laughter.
Born in 1992, Hong Young-gi first rose to fame on Ulzzang Generation Season 1. She now runs an online shopping mall and works as an influencer. In 2012, she married Lee Se-yong, who is three years younger, and the couple has two sons.