[Herald Pop (now Herald Muse) provided]
[Herald Pop (now Herald Muse) provided]

Singer and actor Yui has opened up about her complicated feelings toward the nickname "honey thighs" that once defined her public image.

Yui, a former member of girl group After School, appeared as a guest on the tvN variety program "Nam Gyeo Seo Mwo Hage," which aired Monday.

When host Lee Young-ja brought up the nickname long attached to Yui, fellow guest Park Se-ri quipped, "Aren't I the textbook case of honey thighs? No matter how I look at it, I'm not sure Yui quite qualifies."

Yui said the label came after she performed a Beyoncé dance routine. "Around 2009, there were girl group rankings, and I wasn't No. 1 at the time," she said. "It was after the Beyoncé performance that I got the 'honey thighs' nickname."

She said the nickname was a double-edged experience. "It was a label I was grateful for because it helped introduce me to the public, but it also hurt me — I was only 20 or 21 at the time," she said. "Doctored photos with honey jars superimposed on my face and thighs were circulating online."

She added that she has tried to take a more positive view of it. "If you look at it generously, doesn't it mean you have a healthy, athletic look?" she said. "After I lost weight, the comment I heard most was, 'Why did your thighs get so thin?' So it actually pushed me to work harder on lower-body exercises."

Yui debuted as a member of After School in April 2009 and found success with a string of hits including "Diva," "Because of You" and "Bang." She has also built a parallel acting career, appearing in drama series including "Ojakgyo Family," "Fool's Love," "Hana — Only One" and "Hyosim's Survival."


min3654@heraldcorp.com