JTBC’s “Come travel with me, Mom?” is a mother-daughter travel essay program that captures the first-ever trip of a top star daughter and her mother in a road movie format. Since May, the show has been airing the journey of Lee Hyori and her mother.
In the June 9th episode, Lee Hyori revisited her childhood memories by tasting the squid soup her mother used to make during their impoverished days, leading her to tears. The squid soup was a dish her mother made to feed their family of six with just one squid. Her mother candidly admitted, “We had a large family, so I had to stretch the food to feed everyone.“
Lee Hyori started crying after tasting the incomplete squid soup. She had to retreat to her room to calm down before returning to her mother, but she could not hold back her tears.
Lee Hyori recalled, “Back then, my bowl hardly had any squid, maybe just one or two pieces?” Her mother expressed her sorrow, “We lived in such poverty that I always felt guilty for not being able to provide enough for my children.”
Her mother also reminisced about their tough times, “We used to collect discarded coal briquettes from others just to save money on fuel.“
In previous episodes, Lee Hyori and her mother had also talked about their financially difficult past. Lee Hyori mentioned how she had asked her mother for a doll, saying, “When I was young, little girls loved dolls, but it was hard for our family to even afford a meal.” She confessed that she could not even buy school supplies and felt envious of her friends.
Her mother shared her regret “I feel a lot of sorrow. I couldn’t buy toys or even a single doll for you” and touched many by gifting her grown daughter a doll.
Although Lee Hyori had mentioned her family struggles before, not many were aware of the full extent. Her painful past is being openly shared through “Come travel with me, Mom?” with her mother.
