[Moon Geun-young's Instagram]
[Moon Geun-young's Instagram]

Actor Moon Geun-young, 39, is drawing attention for her noticeably slimmer appearance.

Moon recently posted several photos of herself on Instagram, writing that the SBS competition program "Woori's Ballad 2" had finally aired its first episode.

Smiling brightly as usual, she appeared to have lost weight, her face looking more slender than in recent years.

Moon had been slim during the height of her career in her teens and twenties, but drew public attention for her weight gain after her activities tapered off in her thirties.

Moon has previously explained that the turning point came in 2017, when she was diagnosed with acute compartment syndrome, a rare condition in which abnormally elevated pressure within a muscle compartment cuts off blood flow to the limbs. At the time, she was in a critical state where missing the treatment window could have led to nerve necrosis or paralysis, and she underwent four emergency surgeries.

Having been preoccupied with dieting since she began her entertainment career as a child, she said she stepped away from dieting in order to recover her health. "My doctor told me I had to eat whatever I wanted to get better quickly, so I started eating freely from then on," she said. "I put an end to the dieting I had kept up for 18 years since my debut at 13."

Moon announced in December 2024 that she had made a full recovery, and said she planned to manage her health and diet going forward.

Having regained her health, Moon recently took on a regular role in the SBS competition program "Woori's Ballad 2" for her first fixed broadcast appearance in seven years. She has also announced plans to return to the big screen for the first time in nine years in "Yeto," a film by director Yeon Sang-ho, signaling a busy stretch ahead.

Moon also made headlines in July when she revealed she had married Jung Pyeong, a musical theater actor seven years her senior whom she had been dating for some time.

Moon made her debut in the 1999 film "On the Road." She first gained wide recognition playing the younger version of Song Hye-kyo's character in the drama "Autumn in My Heart," and went on to earn praise for her performances in the Sageuk drama "Empress Myeongseong" and the film "A Tale of Two Sisters." She became particularly beloved as the nation's "little sister" through the film "My Little Bride."


paq@heraldcorp.com