Han Geng reveals having depression, nightmares and suicidal thoughts while in Super Junior

Jackson Wang from Got7, Lay Zhang from Exo, Ningning from Aespa — while idols from China are common in K-pop nowadays, Han Geng was the first one back in the 2000s.

The singer-actor was a member of Super Junior and the leader of its Mandarin sub-group Super Junior M, but left the group 15 years ago.

The 39-year-old revealed the dark side of his K-pop career on the weekly talk show Starface uploaded by PhoenixTV on their YouTube channel on Jan 28.

Han Geng shared that, due to his family's financial situation, he signed a 13-year contract with SM Entertainment when he was 19 to make money.

At the time, his father even lamented that he had "sold" his son.

After an intense training period — Han Geng revealed that he would train 22 hours a day, suffered a nosebleed and didn't even realise he had a fracture — he made his debut in 2005, but had difficulties with the intense schedules and unequal distribution of income.

"Fortunately, all the group members were really good to me and would share some money with me anyway," Han Geng said, though he revealed that their share of the pay was "not much" in the first place.

At its height, Super Junior included 13 members — Leeteuk, Heechul, Yesung, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, Kyuhyun, Han Geng, Kangin and Kibum. Henry Lau was also a member of Super Junior-M.

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He revealed that his income in the first year after debut was even lower than what he received as a trainee, as new idols had to repay the living expenses from the training period back to their company, and Han Geng also sent money back home to his parents.

After his debut, Han Geng's mental health also suffered.

In 2009, he confided in his company and family that he was unhappy and wanted to leave.

"I stayed in the dorm and I was so depressed that I had nightmares every day," Han Geng shared.

He also called his father once and asked: "What if one day I commit suicide?"

Though Han Geng was grateful for the opportunity he had in South Korea, he ultimately said it was the right decision for him to leave Super Junior that year and return to China to start over.

Since then, he has released three studio albums as a soloist and starred in multiple movies and TV series, earning critical acclaim for his roles in My Kingdom (2011), So Young (2013) and Ex-Files (2014).

Most recently, he starred in the 2023 drama Spy Game and movie The Ex-Files 4: Marriage Plan.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-U5t7ZLEHE&ab_channel=%E9%B3%B3%E5%87%B0%E8%A1%9B%E8%A6%96PhoenixTV[/embed]

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drimac@asiaone.com

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