(Trigger warning for eating disorders.)
Hold me, I’m scared.
Sure, being a K-pop idol seems fun and exciting, but it’s not as glamourous as it’s cracked up to be. You have to be uber-skinny and fight against the genetics of your body to the extreme in order to keep up with the rest of the K-idols and compete for fans’ attention. But how far are they being pushed? Kathy Lee, an ex-contestant of the reality TV talent competition ‘Produce 101’, is here to spill the beans on the rigid diet regimen that she was put through while on the show.
First off, trainees were forced to weigh themselves in front of everyone multiple times a week.
“It was really embarrassing,” the former hopeful star recalls.
Contestants were also taken to a weight-loss clinic where they were given a type of herbal medicine. Lee says that the medicine would “suppress our appetite and increase our metabolism.” Upon later retrospection, she says,
“I’m pretty sure they were diet pills.”
To ensure as much weight loss as possible in a short amount of time, Lee, who was 14 at the time, was given carboxy shots. Carboxytherapy is a minor procedure where carbon dioxide gas is injected into the body to break up and filter fat. Lee also revealed another treatment she was given which she described as,
“An electric thing where there’s needles all around and they electrocute you.”
To ensure the efforts on the treatment did not go to waste with a calorie-filled diet, Lee said that based on a diet that was planned for her, she would have nothing but yoghurt for breakfast, cucumber with cherry tomatoes and an occasional boiled egg for lunch as well as a boiled egg with sweet potato for dinner. She recalls that each boiled egg is about 62 calories, and a single cherry tomato holds 12 calories.
“I think I was so determined to be a K-pop idol,” she shared, “And I was young. I wanted to be pretty.“
Lee has since turned her back on this road, choosing her mental and physical instead. She was quoted as saying,
“It was good in that I learned how to be more independent and be by myself. But in leaving, I realized I also don’t feel like hiding myself anymore.”
*Cover image via Mnet
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