Descendants star upset fame affects his privacy

Song Joong Ki.

SEOUL • Descendants Of The Sun heart-throb Song Joong Ki said he is a tad upset that his phenomenal fame has affected his privacy.

Song, 31, spoke at an interview last Friday in Seoul, his first since the hit drama wrapped on Thursday.

"I'm a little upset these days. My family has been exposed to the media," the Korea Herald quoted him as saying. "Some people break into our house. My ex-girlfriend's photos are circulating online. To say that these are things I need to endure for the sake of celebrity... that's sad. I want to respectfully request that my private life remains private."

Old photos showing him hugging an ex-girlfriend, a non-celebrity, had hit the Internet recently.

"People say I'm a Hallyu celebrity now, but I don't really feel that way," he said earlier.

Fans wonder if he is, in real life, as masculine and a ladies' man as Captain Yoo Si Jin, the character he plays in the drama.

Told that the film crew had said he is a man's man and masculine on set, he said: "I'm not sure what the standard for being masculine is. I don't know what they're referring to.

"Maybe it's because I pick up the tab for our after-work meals a lot," he joked. Making jokes is, in fact, the only similarity he and Yoo share, he said, as reported by the Herald.

"Yoo Si Jin likes to make jokes and I do too. Even at this interview so far, I already made a few jokes," he replied to a question. "If I were like him, I would have been much more popular. But do you think men like him exist? As writer Kim (Eun Sook) said, it seems like a fantasy," he said of Yoo.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 18, 2016, with the headline Descendants star upset fame affects his privacy. Subscribe