Jeong Seon-ah, “Poverty in the midst of abundance, growth after losing 22 kg”

Musical actress Jeong Sun-ah gained 22kg due to pregnancy. Although I was depressed about this, I lost weight through a strict diet. He shed tears thinking about the year and a half since he left the stage. But there was a reason for Jeong Seon-ah’s tears.

Jeong Sun-ah married a businessman who is one year younger than her in 2021 and had a daughter last year. For Jeong Sun-ah, ‘Ifden’ is her musical comeback after giving birth. Why did Jeong Sun-ah choose ‘Ifden’ as her first stage return? He said, "Before, I showed works that had characters or were strong. I showed special and splendid appearances such as Glinda and Amneris, which are loved by many people. I also made a lot of choices and concerns."

He continued, "After getting married and having a child, I gained a lot of courage. I wanted to pioneer a path I had never tried before and follow it. In 'Ifden', there is a story about pregnancy and childbirth. I thought, 'If I don't do it, who will?' “It was,” he added.

'Ifden' opened on December 8 last year and is currently being performed. Elizabeth, who returns to New York 12 years after her divorce and works in the city planning department, lives different lives as Liz and Beth depending on her choices. I drew a picture of what would happen. Jeong Seon-ah takes on the role of Elizabeth in the play and delicately expresses the character's ever-changing emotions and concerns.

This is Jeong Seon-ah, who met the audience for a month after the opening. He said, "Personally, I am performing happily. Everyone would say that they are happy with every performance they perform, but I was very worried because it was my first comeback after a long time. Of course, I was worried, 'What if I don't receive as much love as I used to?' It was nice to be on stage. “I’m so lucky that this work came to me at this time,” he said with a laugh.

What did Jeong Seon-ah worry about before returning? She said, "I was worried until I did this performance. My physical strength was definitely different. I gave birth naturally and gained 22kg. I thought, 'How can I lose weight as an actress?' 'I gained 22kg after giving birth. ', 'You can take it out, right?' “I had this thought. They said I would lose weight after giving birth, but they said no. I also went on a strict diet (before giving birth),” she confessed.

“I was away for a year and a half, and I started to think, ‘Have the audience forgotten me?’, ‘Will I be loved when I appear in a new way?’, ‘Will my voice be heard?’ If you are a woman who has given birth to a child, “I might worry about it, but my vocal cord muscles will change, and with that as a plus, I have to stand on stage. I was very afraid of hearing things like ‘Jungseon, your voice got weird after giving birth’ or ‘your singing got weird’, or that I would get hurt, or that I would regret it.” He spoke honestly.

Jeong Seon-ah said, "I worked until I was 5 to 6 months pregnant. After that, no time passed. Like Liz in the second act of 'Ifden,' I cursed and even hated the child, saying to myself, 'I have to work to live, it's because of you.' . As my body grew, my self-esteem collapsed. I wasn't naturally skinny, but I worked hard to lose weight while exercising. I don't know how I lost it, but I gained 22 kg after getting pregnant and ended up weighing over 70 kg. I couldn't miss this project. “I thought, ‘Jung Seon-ah, this is a work that fits my life perfectly, so I have to do this work even when the cold wind blows through my body and my body feels cold.’ I also exercised to recover quickly after giving birth to my child,” he explained.

Of course, I chose 'Ifden' as my comeback project and spent time dieting, but there were other difficulties as well. Jeong Seon-ah made everyone laugh by saying, "I really had a hard time because of the length of practice. I cried a lot. After giving birth, my memory got worse. It wasn't particularly good, either." Also, "I came across a good piece while practicing, but I went back and forth between heaven and hell, crying and laughing, saying things like, 'Why did I say I was doing this?' “I thought, ‘Can I memorize the lines?’ Memorizing them was difficult,” he said.

Jeong Seon-ah said, “The only way to overcome difficulties is through practice.” He said, "After practicing this work, I am not afraid of anything. I gained confidence that I can do it. So I am grateful. There were times when I was very afraid while working on the work, and I was worried about all the pieces, and I felt fear and tension before the performance. It was like the second act of my life, and I think this is the first time I've ever felt worried, worried, and thought that I should follow the path I've chosen. The work fit me exactly, so I didn't have to act unnecessarily on stage as myself, and I was able to do it as 'me'. “I think I can,” he said with a smile.

Jeong Seon-ah, who was a 'non-marriage person' in the past, is taking a different path than she thought. He said, "Whether I wanted it or not, my life as an actor seems to be going well. I had no intention of getting married. I think people who have no intention of getting married go by very quickly." He added, "I was a non-marriage person. I had a child like that. I didn't have a personality that I liked. I'd never thought of children as being that pretty, but without realizing it, I was carving out a path for myself whether I wanted it or not, and I ended up becoming the perfect person for that position. While I was walking down this path, I never thought about my mother. “As I get older, I think my depth as an actor has expanded,” he said.

Jeong Sun-ah, who debuted in the musical 'Rent' in 2022, celebrated her 20th anniversary last year. Even he, who had been selling only musicals for 20 years, had a slump. Jeong Seon-ah said, "After 10 years of musicals, I was in a slump. Even if it had been 10 years, I was only 30. I am grateful and happy to be able to turn my future hopes and dreams into a career. I was happy because I achieved my dream quickly, but it felt empty. “It may sound like I was full, but it was like that at the time. I didn’t know why. Work was going well and I was happy. It wasn’t a problem, and I didn’t know how thankful I was.”

Not only that, "I performed as if it was natural, and at some point, musicals became boring and I hated them. I didn't know that it was happiness because I was making money, so I thought, 'Am I doing it to make money?' “I thought that if they gave me more money, I would have to go to a place that paid more even if I didn’t want to do it. That’s why I got depressed. I felt like I wasn’t happy,” he said. “When other people saw me, they would say, ‘I work well and make good money, but I’m in a slump.’ "I can. Poverty in the midst of abundance really makes me feel depressed. I never thought I was depressed, but I became depressed. I overcame it through faith, but when I realized that I wasn't grateful for everything, everything was resolved," he explained.

While doing 'Ifden', the public's evaluation of Jeong Sun-ah also changed. Jeong Seon-ah said, "In the past, the reaction was 'Jung Seon-ah, you're good' or 'You should sing that well,' but these days, it's 'I started to think about life again' and 'I was depressed and had a hard time after giving birth, but seeing an actor who played the same role as me empathizes with me.' There were many reviews saying, "I was comforted." Many people said that they sympathized with themselves, cried, and laughed. I thought there was a power in the message this work gave. It was another joy that I had chosen well. It was the same as saying, "Jeong-seon, you are good." “This is different,” he said.

Jeong Seon-ah says she doesn’t have any big greed. Then, she moved to an agency, gave birth, and entered the second chapter of her life with 'Ifden.' She said, "It feels like a new start. It's a new start in my life as a mother as well. I feel like I just debuted," and added, "I want to become a responsible actor who can convey well what I want to say. In the past, 'short and bold' was my life motto. “I thought, ‘What is life?’, but not anymore. I want to become an actor who lives ‘thinly and long’, is loved, performs happily without giving up his humanity, gives love and joy, and shares happiness with his colleagues.”

Kang Min-kyung, Ten Asia reporter kkk39@tenasia.co.kr