Italian luxury brand Prada is among companies ditching popular South Korea actor Kim Soo-hyun after allegations that he was romantically involved with another actor when she was 15. Kim Sae-ron, 24, was found dead of a suspected suicide in February, three years after a "fall from grace," per the AP. "Previously one of the brightest young stars in South Korean cinema," she was dropped by her agency, Goldmedalist, in 2022, the same year she was involved in a drunk driving incident, the outlet reports. Found to owe Goldmedalist nearly $500,000 in damages, she'd turned to part-time jobs to pay off her debt while facing constant negative news coverage.
After her death, an exposé from the South Korean YouTube channel Hoverlab claimed 37-year-old Kim Soo-hyun, star of drama series My Love from the Star and Queen of Tears, had been in a romantic relationship with Sae-ron as far back as 2015, per Reuters and the Global Times. Goldmedalist, which also represents Soo-hyun, denied the allegations Friday but—in the face of multiple photos of the pair together, some reportedly supplied by Soo-hyun's relatives—said the actors were "in a relationship from the summer of 2019 to the fall of 2020, after [Sae-ron] became a legal adult."
A day later, Seoul-based cosmetics brand Dinto said it was ending its advertising contract with Soo-hyun. "This decision was made to uphold the values that Dinto stands for and to honor the trust placed in us by our consumers," it said, adding "there are substantial grounds rendering the fulfilment of the advertising contract unfeasible." Prada said Monday it had reached a mutual decision to remove Soo-hyun as a brand ambassador, a role he held since December, per the Korea Times. Some other brands have been scrubbing Soo-hyun's image from their websites, while other companies appear to be waiting for legal confirmation of the minor relationship before taking action, the outlet notes. (More South Korea stories.)
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