Jin Tae-hyun and Park Si-eun. [Jin Tae-hyun SNS]
Jin Tae-hyun and Park Si-eun. [Jin Tae-hyun SNS]

Actor Park Si-eun has carefully opened up to her mother about the pain of a miscarriage she had never been able to discuss — four years after the loss.

In a recently aired episode of Channel J's "Eomma-ui Gichayeohaeng," a travel program featuring mothers and daughters, Park was shown journeying through Niigata, Japan, with her mother.

Over a meal together, Park broke the silence. "I've never actually talked about losing Tae-eun with you," she said. Her mother responded with an apology: "We were both too careful around each other to bring it up. I should have held you warmly, but honestly, I couldn't even do that."

Her mother went on to share her true feelings. "I wanted to comfort you, but even when I had something to say, I couldn't express it all," she said. "It was the same when your husband was sick. My heart ached too, but I couldn't say everything I wanted to."

She was speaking candidly about both her daughter's miscarriage and her son-in-law's battle with thyroid cancer.

Park responded with quiet composure. "I think I stopped talking about it back then because you'd get emotional, and I didn't want to make things harder," she said. "Even without spelling out how difficult it was, you already knew, didn't you?"

Her mother recalled the moment she found out, saying Park had called her from the hospital and told her, "Mom, they said the baby's heart stopped."

Park reflected on what the loss had meant. "That pregnancy was a source of joy for everyone close to me," she said. "I felt sorry for them when I thought about it. But I've come to think that the baby and I simply weren't meant to be — and that she came into my life, gave me the greatest joy she could, and then left."

Park, who said she still cries occasionally over the loss, added: "I think of her as having gone somewhere good ahead of me, and I hold onto the thought that we'll meet again someday. When I do that, the pain and sadness seem to slowly change."

Park and her husband, actor Jin Tae-hyun, first met on the set of the 2010 drama series "Pure Pumpkin Flower" and married in 2015. After two miscarriages following their wedding, Park became pregnant in 2022 but suffered another miscarriage roughly 20 days before her due date.

On Aug. 14 — the fourth anniversary of the loss of their daughter Tae-eun — the couple donated a total of 20 million won ($14,460): 10 million won ($7,230) to a housing improvement project for descendants of independence movement patriots, and another 10 million won to support families in crisis.

Jin marked the occasion on his SNS, writing: "It's already been four years since our Tae-eun left for heaven. Time passes so fast. I'm grateful and glad that we can remember her and cherish her memory like this." He added that through a charity run organized by a friend, the couple planned to share their support with those who honored independence patriots, with neighbors in difficult circumstances who fall through the cracks, with a pioneering church on Jeju Island seeking to relocate, and with others he said he could not name.


yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com