“I Was Stepped on While I Was Down”: Jeon Somi Opens Up About Being Bullied at School ... “I Still Tear Up When I Think About It”

[Financial News] Singer Jeon Somi opened up about being bullied at school when she was a student, saying the wounds from that time have still not completely healed.
On the 12th, Jeon Somi posted a video on her YouTube channel “IMOS Jeon Somi” in which she listens to subscribers’ stories and gets angry on their behalf.
In the video, after reading a viewer’s account of being bullied at school for a year in middle school—including having their clothes slashed with a knife, graffiti written on their uniform, being threatened with a knife, and having their allowance taken away—Jeon Somi shared her own experience.
“It was nothing compared with what my friend went through, but I also experienced some bullying when I was a student,” Jeon Somi said in sympathy. “I know what it’s like to feel helpless because there’s nothing you can do in that situation, to wonder, ‘Where do I even start?’ when telling your parents, and to feel deep down, ‘I’m really all alone.’”
“I’m very cheerful now and doing well in the entertainment industry, but every now and then, when I think about that time, I still feel upset,” she said. “I often find myself tearing up without even realizing it.”
The bullying Jeon Somi experienced began when she was in third grade. After transferring from a foreign school to a Korean school, she was elected class president in an election the following day, and the bullying began after that. She recalled, “My reading card was torn up, my photos had been cut up, there was so much trash inside my indoor shoes, and when they said, ‘You guys form groups among yourselves,’ I was just left alone.”
She also revealed that when she was in sixth grade, a boy pulled on her backpack as she was walking home, causing her to fall, and that she was “stepped on while I was down.” Jeon Somi said, “Because everyone knew I was an outcast, I hoped none of the kids from my elementary school would go to the same middle school as me. I was really, really struggling with the fear that if even one of them came, the rumors would spread and people would see me as an easy target.”
Jeon Somi went on to advise victims of school bullying to take better care of themselves. “You may be doing very well and be happy now, but there could be a hole deep in your heart that even you don’t know about,” she said. “When you need to, you should go to counseling or fill your life more with things that can truly make you happy.”
“If you hold your head high, you win,” Jeon Somi emphasized. “As long as I haven’t done anything wrong, the world is on my side.” She added, “I’m too busy taking care of myself, making time to be happy, traveling, and living confidently,” and urged them to “live your own life.”
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