Actress Moon Geun-young recently shared her struggles with long-term dieting.
On the October 22nd episode of tvN's variety show 'You Quiz on the Block' (hereafter 'You Quiz'), Moon Geun-young appeared as a guest.
Moon Geun-young, who was diagnosed with the rare condition acute compartment syndrome in 2017, recounted, "I had a regional performance and slipped on an icy road. The next day, I woke up with severe swelling but ignored it for a day." She continued, "I went to a university hospital the following day, but the X-ray didn't show any issues. After an MRI, I was diagnosed with acute compartment syndrome. They said I might have missed the golden time, and necrosis could have occurred, so I underwent emergency surgery. They also mentioned that my finger nerves might not recover."
She added, "After the surgery, when the bandages were removed, the condition was much worse than I expected. I even considered giving up acting, thinking I might not be able to use my arm anymore. I lived with my grandmother, and since I couldn't cry in front of her, I parked my car in the underground parking lot and cried there."
After undergoing three more surgeries, Moon Geun-young stated, "Since all the nerves were dead, I had to do exercises to revive them and also muscle exercises." She revealed, "After about a year of rehabilitation, both nerve and muscle functions returned."
Moon Geun-young reflected, "Until that accident, I felt like I was constantly running like a car without brakes. My mother said, 'It seems like a brake was put on your life. It seems like the heavens gave you a chance to take a break.'"
She also ended her 18-year-long diet. "The doctor told me, 'Eat whatever you want. You need to eat well to recover quickly.' From then on, I started eating whatever I wanted," she shared.
Having dieted since her childhood acting days, Moon Geun-young said, "Even though I was dieting, it wasn't baby fat that would go away. The company said I needed to have a slimmer face to look mature, so they told me to diet."
She continued, "When I was young, I weighed a lot, but my body was thin. I actually had a lot of muscle. But because I weighed a lot, they told me to lose weight. So I started starving myself and stopped eating to lose weight."
By Taeyuna, TenAsia Reporter youyou@tenasia.co.kr