Actress Dubbed as ‘Little Kim Tae Hee’ Retired After Experiencing Physical Abuse on Set
OG K-drama viewers would still remember Heo Yi Jae who made her small-screen debut through the series "Prince Hours" a spin-off to the hit K-drama "Princess Hours."
Joining Heo Yi Jae as the lead stars are Park Shin Hye, Kang Doo, and Choi Dong Wook, also known as Se7en. Due to her charm, acting skills, and of course the popularity of the drama, it opened a lot of doors for the actress.
She was able to land another lead role in the movie "Da Capo" followed by the romance family K-drama "Single Dad In Love in 2008."
Besides her outstanding performance, her stunning beauty shined, gaining her the moniker "Little Kim Tae Hee."
However, after starring in back-to-back projects, Heo Yi Jae's career slowly faded away.
Interestingly, after 7 years since she appeared as the main character in the 2009 movie "Girlfriends" Heo Yi Jae, joined the cast of "You Are A Gift."
Unfortunately, little did she know that this would be the end of her acting career.
Heo Yi Jae Encounters Nightmare in 'You Are A Gift'
According to an outlet, the actress revealed bombshell news on YouTube back in 2021 detailing why she suddenly left showbiz.
In the 2016 K-drama, Heo Yi Jae took the role of university student Kong Hyun Soo. She is a pretty and smart student who has a tragic past.
However, it seemed like her character is somewhat similar to her real-life story.
In the Youtube video, the actress said that she experienced physical abuse from the veteran actress Kim Cheong, claiming that she went through physical abuse by the older co-star taking advantage of the intense scenes.
For Kim Cheong, she made excuses that it was hard for her to get out of her character, especially after doing tense scenes.
However, for Heo Yi Jae, there was a time that the senior actress declined to take off her ring when slapping the junior actress.
READ MORE: So Ji Sub Suffers From Strange Nightmares While Filming 'Confession'
Apart from the physical abuse from a female co-star, the actress also dropped a shocking revelation regarding a co-star whom she didn't mention which K-drama or movie.
Heo Yi Jae Receives Indecent Proposal From a Co-Star?
Citing it as the main reason why she quit the industry, Heo Yi Jae, uploaded a video on YouTube titled "There is something I need to tell you guys carefully" where she spoke about a married co-star who persuaded her to sleep with him.
At the time, viewers thought that their on-screen chemistry was not like lovers; hence, the reason the actor asked him a shocking question adding that it would help them "to look more like a couple together" on TV.
Hinting that the person is "still active," however, Heo Yi Jae didn't name names. She pointed out that this is because of the "litigation issue."
"At that time, I had no idea how to deal with it because I was still new to this industry. There was no recording evidence," she said as cited by the media outlet.
