Lee Dong-wook says Gong Yoo helped him reconsider retirement

South Korean actor Lee Dong-wook has revealed that he once considered retiring and how Gong Yoo helped him reconsider his decision.

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Lee Dong-wook recently made a guess appearance during a live broadcast on television producer Na Young-seok’s YouTube channel. During his time on the livestream, the actor opened up about how he fell into a “deep slump” after the tepid reception to his 2018 K-drama series, Life.

“It was so serious that I didn’t leave my house for almost a month,” he said, per SBS Star, adding that he had been “unhappy” with his performance in the series. “The drama was getting online hate, and all of that negativity seemed to be directed at me. I started to think I was to blame.”

Lee Dong-wook then revealed that he had “seriously considered retiring and moving to another country” following the failure of Life. “I thought the series would have been more popular and successful without me,” he explained. “I felt I shouldn’t be acting anymore.”

Later, the A Shop for Killers star opened up about how fellow actor Gong Yoo was the one who helped up overcome his slump. “He just called me one day and told me to step out and join him, telling me he was already on his way to pick me up,” he said. “I didn’t want to see him because I thought he’d try to talk about my state.”

“However, he didn’t ask anything about it,” Lee Dong-wook added, saying that they just had “casual conversations” that day. “It got me thinking [about how] this is the world I belong [in]. I had been obsessed with how people online perceived me. But there was a real world outside, and that was where I belonged.”

Lee Dong-wook is currently starring in the Disney+ original K-drama series,  A Shop for Killers. NME gave the series a four-star review, saying that the show “makes for a fun and appealing popcorn watch”, but only if viewers are “willing to let the plot holes slide”.

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