Famous after her successful plastic surgery, this Korean actress almost lost everything over a scandal.
In Korea’s entertainment industry, plastic surgery is a common thing, and many Kpop idols and K-drama actors have seen considerable successes after getting it. However, not everyone is brave enough to speak about their own plastic surgery like actress Lee Da Hae, who rose to stardom only to struggle in the face of serious scandals.
From a heavily criticized beauty pageant contestant to the most successful case of plastic surgery in Korea.
Born in 1984, Lee Da Hae once participated in the beauty competition Miss Chunghyang 2001. At the time, she had a square jaw, big face, and monolid eyes – which do not fit the strict Korean beauty standards. As a result, Lee Da Hae was constantly mocked for having what netizens deemed an ugly face.
Lee Da Hae eventually resorted to plastic surgery, enlarging her eyes, lifting her nose, narrowing her jawline, and filling up her lips. With her visuals “fixed”, her career also started to rise. Soon, Lee Da Hae was getting hits after hits and landing roles in major projects such as “My Girl”, “East of Eden”, “IRIS 2”, “Miss Ripley”, and so on.
Accused of being a hostess, and some even called her a “high-end prostitute”.
In particular, this scandal broke out in 2011, when her images were found on the British dark web, next to a list of possible sexual services. Immediately, rumors broke out that Lee Da Hae sold her body overseas, and the public started to look at her with disdain. It took the combined effort of Lee Da Hae’s agency and the police to clear her name, and 4 people who spread the gossip were taken to court.
In 2013, Lee Da Hae stumbled into the largest scandal throughout her entire career and was revealed to be 1 out of 30 celebrities investigated for prostitution. There were gossips that she traded sexual favors for various luxury gifts worth hundreds of millions of won. Her agency tried to refute and even sued whoever posted the information, but netizens never stopped condemning her. It was not until 2017 did Lee Da Hae have the courage to speak of this past incident and confessed that the event put her and her family under immense pressure as well as severely hurt them.
A love story against all odds
Over 20 years of working in the industry, Lee Da Hae only confirmed to be dating one man, notorious singer Se7en. Their relationship announcement in 2017 was immediately received with disdain, with netizens saying that Lee Da Hae should find herself a better man. They believed that Se7en was scum on earth, having gone to have sexual favors while in the military, despite already dating actress Park Han Byul.
However, Lee Da Hae and Se7en still stayed together against all odds, and Se7en never hesitated to talk about his lover on screen. This is a complete contrast to his previous relationship, where he kept everything lowkey.
Lee Da Hae likes to keep her personal life a low profile, but Se7en enjoys showering her with public proclamations of love. Slowly but surely, their heart-fluttering relationship began to be complimented, and fans started to send their wishes.
