Actor Baek Il-seop [Newsis]
Actor Baek Il-seop [Newsis]

Actor Baek Il-seop, known for the SBS variety show My Little Old Boy, has opened up about why he chose a "graduated marriage" — a separation without divorce — after four decades of married life.

The Sunday episode of My Little Old Boy featured Baek, Kim Seung-su, Im Won-hee and Jo Jin-se sharing candid thoughts on marriage and life aboard a sauna bus.

Kim asked Baek, now in his 11th year of graduated marriage, whether he preferred living alone or being married. Baek encouraged his younger colleague to marry. "If there's someone, go for it — you're not getting any younger," he said.

Baek then revealed feelings he had long kept to himself. "I wanted to break free, but I cared about appearances," he said. "I didn't want people saying, 'He was out drinking and running around, and now he's getting divorced — couldn't make it last.' So I put up with it."

"That went on for 40 years," he continued. "I just built up resentment inside, and my work suffered too. Then one day I just said, 'I'm leaving,' and I left." That moment, he said, was what led him to choose a graduated marriage over divorce.


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