Solo artist Yuju opened up about losing her appetite due to the pressures of her solo career.
Yuju, formerly of GFRIEND, caught fans’ attention appearing on the 364th episode of KBS Joy’s ‘Ask Anything’.
During the show, Yuju shocked everyone by confessing, “Whenever I start preparing for an album, my appetite drops to zero, which affects my daily life.” She revealed that while she is 169cm tall, she is thinner now than during her GFRIEND days, dropping from 52kg to 45kg.
Yuju shared, “I naively thought that losing weight would make me look prettier on screen, but I once fainted at home and woke up alone.” She added that she even underwent an endoscopy because she could only eat three spoonfuls of rice.
The result was a recommendation for psychiatric treatment. Yuju explained, “The doctor told me my stomach and digestive organs were perfectly fine, but suggested that there might be psychological reasons for people like me.” She noted that was when she first realized the severity of the situation.
She realized too late that while she thought she was just doing what she loved, she had become incredibly sensitive due to her ambition for her career.
Yuju even mentioned that she visited a hospital after losing hearing in one ear during recording, only to be told, “There should be a proper amount of fat in the eardrum, but even the eardrum fat is gone. You need to eat food, not take medicine.”
Hearing this, Lee Soo-geun expressed his concern with a sharp wake-up call: “You’re an amateur. You can’t be a pro. How can you comfort the public with this kind of attitude?”
Seo Jang-hoon also advised, “The sound you make when you’re on the verge of collapsing is different from the sound you make when you’ve eaten well and are in good condition, and the emotion is different too. You need to manage your condition well with the heart of wanting to show a good side to your fans for a long time.”
