2AM’s Jo Kwon divulges heart-melting childhood experiences in a segment in SBS.
During the 13th episode of SBS’s segment, “Are You Eating Well?” Jo Kwon of 2AM shared his tear-jerker stories in the past with his family.
The leader of 2AM honestly spoke about his emotional experience with his family when he was still in his elementary years. He revealed that his family lived in a semi-basement shelter with a monthly rent of 60,000 KRW (roughly 60 USD).
In the interview, he said that his family lost everything back when he was still in 5th grade while being buried with lots of debts that amounted to 500 million won (500,000 USD), Allkpop reported.
He shared that his family tried to stand up by starting up a business, but it failed. He continued, “The moneylenders barged into our home and brought a bucket of water to spill on my mother’s face. She doesn’t have an eardrum now.”
The young Jo Kwon was traumatized after seeing what happened to her mother. He admitted that it made a mark on his heart that he can’t forget what happened.
The singer-actor teared up reminiscing when his mother was thrown over the pavement by their debtors while she was trying to see Jo Kwon off to school, causing her jaw to break, wrote Soompi.
Fortunately, Jo Kwon grabbed the opportunity to audition on a TV show for young talents in 2000 featuring JYP Entertainment founder, Park Jin Young.
Jo Kwon revealed that he secretly auditioned for the show to help his family. He said that his mother fretted a lot for him first, but ended up accompanying him to the finals for the second round of auditions.
Jon Kwo also revealed the hardships he encountered back when he was still starting. He said, “I have spent eight years being a trainee with a lot of pressure on my shoulder, and I always think that I should hurry up to debut to help my family.”
After several years of enduring the pain and pressure, Jo Kwon shared that he finally bought his parents a new house. “Being able to gift my parents a new home makes me the happiest person,” he said.
According to Soompi, the actor also thanked Kin Hye Soo, whom he met in a KBS drama, “The Queen of Office,” for helping him during his hard times.
Jo Kwon’s mother made a special appearance on the show, where she apologized to his son for the miserable childhood. She said that when Jo Kwon did his audition, she thought that his son got the wrong parents, and she cried in the bathroom every time because of that.