Ex-APRIL member Lee Hyun-joo returns to acting as Chaewon’s mom denies bullying claims
In early 2021, Lee Hyun-joo, a former member of K-pop girl group APRIL was embroiled in a bullying case. Her brother and friends said that she had been bullied by her group which was denied by APRIL’s agency, DSP Media. Both Hyun-joo and DSP Media had stated that they were taking legal actions against each other and that the truth would prevail. However, the court had decided to drop DSP’s defamation case against Hyun-joo’s brother, finding him innocent.
While Hyun-joo had debuted with APRIL, she left the group in 2016 due to health reasons. But statements from her friends and family said that she had been bullied by the members of the group. Along with that, they claimed that one of the members, Chaewon was like a “bad older sister who made things hard” for Hyun-joo. With APRIL denying their involvement, a member’s mother stepped forward to shed some more light on the matter. This comes as Hyun-joo has returned to acting.
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Chaewon’s mother speaks up
Previously, the internet was ablaze with rumors that Chaewon had dated her manager to make sure that he kept silent about her bullying Hyun-joo. Several of the other members were also being trolled online as they lost some gigs due to the allegations. The members went on to give a detailed interview with a Korean news agency and refuted Hyun-joo’s claims. Chaewon herself released a statement last month that the allegations against her were false and that they were in the midst of collecting evidence regarding the matter.
Chaewon’s mother further appealed to netizens by stating that she was close to her daughter who she believed had not participated in any of the bullying activities mentioned by Hyun-joo. She stated that after an incident on ‘Music Bank’, it seemed that Hyun-joo had been close to Chaewon and had relied on her. Chaewon’s mother also said that she had a good relationship with Hyun-joo’s mother which would have not been possible had her daughter indeed bullied Hyun-joo. She also said that she had reached out to all of the managers of that time and that her daughter had not dated any of them.
This was released hours after Hyun-joo announcing her return to the entertainment industry. The idol-turned-actress will be returning with a new web drama. It is said that she will be doing an acting cameo in the web drama ‘Heartbeat Broadcasting Accident’ which is set to air in September. She will be playing the part of Han Yu-ra, the rival to the protagonist played by another idol-turned-actress, Lim Na-young. The production company said that Hyun-joo was nervous since this was her first project following the bullying allegations regarding APRIL. However, it was revealed that she agreed to play the part due to her loyalty to the company.
