On the afternoon of the 26th, a video featuring Red Velvet‘s Wendy was uploaded to YouTube.
Wendy revealed that after her older sister went to Canada for language training, she persuaded her parents to let her study abroad there as well. “I went as soon as I entered fifth grade in elementary school, but I couldn’t speak any English. I stayed with a foreign host family, and even if someone talked to me, I didn’t understand a word. That day, I said I wanted to go back to Korea,” she said.
She continued, “In 2005, there were no Asians at all, so it was hard. But after about a month, I started to speak and understand some English. Even though communication was difficult, I enjoyed school.” She added, “After two or three years, my parents told me to move from rural Brockville to the city, so I went to Toronto. The level of English was different there, and the kids felt very snobby and city-smart. I attended a Catholic school where the students were very elitist. There were many diverse friends and various races, but I couldn’t fit in. From then on, racial discrimination started. I ate in the bathroom and there was nowhere to sit me with others.”
Wendy said, “When I asked the kids, ‘Can I play with you? Can I play soccer?’ they said, ‘No! You’re Korean,’ and ignored me. I reported it to a teacher, saying, ‘They’re discriminating against me because of my race,’ but the teacher just told me, ‘Go talk it out.’ Even with that time given by the teacher, they never apologized. I ended up spending a lot of time alone, often crying in the closet and eating alone in the bathroom. I thought school life was going to be really tough. So, I stopped studying and focused on making friends. I hung out with the most popular kids, and my style naturally changed.”
Reflecting on changes she went through in middle school, Wendy said, “In first year of middle school, I half-bleached my hair, wore skull ties and suits—it was strange. I was eating nonstop while abroad and gained more than 10 kg in a year.”
She recalled, “Later, when I went to the airport to meet my mom and sister, I got off the plane after gaining 15 kg, and they didn’t recognize me. They asked, ‘What happened to you? Why do you look like this?’ From that day, my parents kept some distance. They’re very conservative, so when I came back to Korea afterward, I cut and dyed my hair and completely changed my style.“