"I Saw Koo Hye-sun Smoking": The Story Behind the Rumor That She Was a Heavy Smoker

[Financial News] Koo Hye-sun said she even learned how to smoke while preparing to portray a smoking scene in a film, which led to rumors that she was a heavy smoker.
Koo Hye-sun appeared as a guest on MBN's "Kim Joo-ha's Day & Night," which aired on the 18th, where she was introduced as a "pro multi-jobber."
She explained that she was criticized for her smoking performance during the filming of her first feature film. "In my debut feature film, I had to act as if I were smoking, and since I didn't know how, I thought I could just puff out the acting," she said. "But people watching told me, 'That's not smoking. You need to really smoke.' So I had to find someone who smoked to learn from, and I decided to learn it myself."
It took her 10 months to get used to smoking. Koo Hye-sun said, "I kept smoking on purpose. I smoked a pack a day." Moon Se-yoon reacted in surprise, saying, "At that point, you must have liked it. You don't have to smoke a pack a day. Even smokers find it hard to finish a pack."
The way she learned to smoke was also unusual. Koo Hye-sun said, "I learned from younger classmates at university. It was during COVID-19, so face-to-face meetings were difficult. That's why I learned how to smoke through video chat."
"We weren't allowed to meet in groups of three or more, but five of us were in the video chat, so we all turned on our cameras and smoked together at the same time," she added.
Going into a smoking room alone was also one of the tasks she had to complete before filming. Koo Hye-sun said, "There was a mission where I had to go to the smoking room alone. It took tremendous courage to go by myself. I had to really smoke, not just pretend to."
She also said she felt ready to act after seeing an anonymous post on a student-only app. "At the time, there was an app just for university students, and an anonymous post went up saying, 'I saw Koo Hye-sun smoking. She was a heavy smoker.' When I saw that, I thought I had succeeded. Only then did I finally start filming," she said.
hsg@fnnews.com Han Seung-gon Reporter