Lee Young Ja revisited a career-rocking controversy and described the emotions she felt returning to TV after a long hiatus.
On the Nov. 1, 2025 KST episode of 'Omniscient Interfering View' (episode 371), Lee Young Ja watched Roy Kim’s guerrilla-style concert and recalled her own appearance on 'Guerilla Concert' 23 years ago. Responding to Roy Kim’s comment that stage lighting made it hard to see the crowd, she said, "Back then, 'Guerilla Concert' blasted the lights toward the audience, so you could see everyone at a glance. In that instant your chest rips open. I’m someone who once stood on that stage."
She then alluded to her return after controversy: "I’d had an incident, and after a long gap that was the stage where I was debuting again." She continued, "I wondered if people would scold me and point fingers. Then the lights popped on the audience—it was packed. I felt like I could end my life right there and be okay. I was so grateful, so sorry, and the tears just burst out." Archival footage from 2002 showed Lee Young Ja in tears as fans chanted her name.
Lee Young Ja added, "Even now, thinking about that time overwhelms me; the emotions still burst." Roy Kim, who had a similar onstage experience, said, "It was the first time in 13 years of performing that I’d felt that way."
In 2001, Lee Young Ja drew attention for dramatic weight loss she initially attributed to exercise and diet. It later emerged she had undergone liposuction, prompting accusations of dishonesty and a period of self-imposed hiatus from broadcasting. She returned in 2002 via 'Guerilla Concert'.
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