Renowned Korean Pansori Singer Shin Young-hee Opens Up About Her Marital Struggles

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Renowned Korean pansori singer Shin Young-hee shared her personal story of supporting her husband during his imprisonment.

On the October 18th episode of MBN's 'Special World,' 83-year-old Shin Young-hee, the oldest active pansori singer, made an appearance.

During the broadcast, Shin revealed, "I am someone who is crazy about pansori. Just three days after giving birth to my daughter, I was back on stage," she said. "After getting married, my husband didn't want me to perform pansori, so we ended up parting ways without any fights," she explained, revealing the reason for her first divorce.

At the age of 50, she remarried, but faced another challenge. "Just eight days after remarrying, my husband was imprisoned for fraud," she said, shocking the audience. Shin Young-hee added, "Despite what others might think, he was my husband, and I felt it was my duty to support him during his imprisonment because that's what a human should do."

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Shin continued, "I paid off a lot of his debts with checks and was contemplating whether I should continue living with him. I was in my early 60s at the time, and he started seeing a woman in her 50s (he had an affair). My ex-husband was the one who first suggested divorce," she explained, detailing the failure of her second marriage.

She added, "When he asked for a divorce, I thought, 'Great!' and went through with it." Shin Young-hee also shared the poignant story of losing her father at 16 and becoming the de facto head of her family, which moved many viewers.

Reported by Na-yeon Cho, TenAsia nybluebook@tenasia.co.kr