From breaking and entering to harassments and threats, this K-pop star has been through it all.
He recalled that back when he was actively promoting as part of TVXQ and JYJ, he had to face his fair share of ‘sasaeng’ aka ‘obsessive fans’ who would stalk or engage in invasive behaviours. While this is, unfortunately, a common occurrence among popular idol groups and members, Jaejoong says that his experience might be worse than that of others…
Multiple cases of breaking and entering prompted him to change his door locks — constantly.
“I would receive these photo messages. They would be pictures of my living room, bedroom, and kitchen spaces. But what’s worse is that I would be photographed in those pictures! Get it? These overly… obsessive and passionate ‘fans’ would enter my house, tiptoe around to take pictures of me, and leave. Then they would send the pictures to me. Who knows how they figured out my phone number? It used to give me chills. So I always had to change the key and door lock and everything.”
View this post on Instagram
The stalking continued even after he moved to a different residence. At one point, the star began living alone in an apartment building and still, he was harassed.
“I moved into this one apartment building. They moved into another one right across the street. I’m serious! They got a unit that is directly across and on the same floor level as mine! And from there, they would stare at me all day. I don’t know if they leased the place or what, but yeah. They kept watching and watching. And I had originally picked that unit because of the nice terrace. I ended up not being able to use it once because anytime I would be on the terrace, I would be stared down.”
After a particularly terrifying stalker’s behaviour, Jaejoong decided to get the police involved.
“It was really late at night. I had all the lights off so I could sleep. Then, all of a sudden, I hear my doorbell. Ding-dong. And I wondered who it could be, because it was so late. I checked the door cam to see who’s there. But no one was there. I went back to my room, only to hear the bell again. I checked the cam to see no one there. This repeated a couple times. So eventually I decided to open the door.”
View this post on Instagram
He continued, saying,
“It was weird because I could only open my door partially. That’s when I saw someone’s leg. I got so frightened that I slammed the door. When I opened it again, no one was there. I looked around the area, including down the emergency staircase. I heard people running down. So I sprinted and chased them down. When I caught them, I recognized them as some of my most notorious stalkers. I decided this went way over the line so I called the police to report them.”
However, he didn’t get the help he needed.
“But… the police at the time told me they’re my fans and so I should forgive them. He told me I’m ‘petty for calling the cops on them when they’re just curious fans.’ Yeah.”
C’mon people, our favourite celebrities have feelings just like we do. We need to show them some respect and allow them space to live their life.
*Cover image via JYJ
Post comments (0)