TV personality Harisu (51) revealed that she returned to her livelihood just three weeks after undergoing gender reassignment surgery in the past.
On the episode of MBN's variety show 'Sokpuri Show Dongchimi' aired on the 14th, the cast discussed the topic "The unfilial child weeps."
During the broadcast, Harisu recalled, "My mother knew about my gender identity even when I was in high school," adding, "When I was a high school student, I brought a boyfriend home and called him 'Mom's son-in-law.'"
She continued, "There was a time when I went to the police station on charges of public indecency while cross-dressing, and my parents came. At that time, random inspections were frequent. The police had contacted our home. My mother took a taxi in the middle of the night, and the police said something like, 'Why are you raising your son this way?' I thought, 'Because I am living this life, my mother is being humiliated at the police station,' and I felt sorry for her then."
She added, "At that time, my mother asked me, 'Do you really have to live like this?' I told her, 'Mom, haven't you believed in and supported me until now? Let me try living this way, and if it doesn't work out, I will go back.' My mother respected my decision."
Harisu confessed, "After saving up all the surgical costs in 1995, I told my mother, 'I need to have the surgery,' and she asked again, 'Do you really have to?' That was the hardest time. I was unfilial to my mother."
She stated that she had gender reassignment surgery in 1995 and explained, "At that time, there were three places in Korea where gender reassignment surgery could be performed: a private plastic surgery clinic in Seoul, a university hospital, and a university hospital in Busan."
She added, "It was after 2000 that people started having the surgery done in Thailand," recalling, "There was little information available, and many cases of patients losing their lives during surgery."
She then revealed the procedures required to undergo the surgery.
Harisu said, "For the gender reassignment surgery itself, I had to receive a psychiatric diagnosis and undergo various tests. Finally, with an indemnity agreement stating 'It is acceptable if this person loses their life during this surgery,' two family members had to sign the consent form."
She opened up, "I did not get along well with my father since I was young. When guests visited our home, my father would say, 'Your daughter is pretty,' and then respond, 'That is my son.' He said, 'I told you not to have a child, but you did, and this is the result.' Because he had a son, everyone only saw him as a woman, and he disliked having a son who acted like a girl. He was always full of complaints."
She continued, "My father did not know when I had the surgery; only my mother and my younger sister knew, so they were the two people who signed the consent form. After I had the surgery, my father asked our mother, 'Why did you let her have this surgery?' He reportedly scolded and blamed her a lot, saying, 'It is hard enough to live as a man in our country; how could you know how hard it would be to live as a woman?' But for me, if I had not done that, I felt like I was going to die."
Harisu recalled, "On the day of the surgery, I thought about all the hardships up to that point. Instead of hope for my life, I felt, 'I might go in like this and my life could end.' When I came to my senses, my whole body hurt as if I had been beaten, and my back felt like it was going to break."
She continued, "The surgery took about 10 hours. It was an era when there were no painless injections. If it hurt, they would give me painkillers, but only three times a day. I stayed in the hospital for about 20 days and felt like I was going crazy," she revealed about her post-surgery pain.
She added, "When I was discharged after three weeks, the surgical costs had been deducted, and I only had 1 million won left. A sudden anxiety about the future came over me. Hearing this story now, many people take a year to recover, but I rested for exactly three weeks and threw myself into work."
After having gender reassignment surgery in 1995, Harisu debuted as a cosmetics advertisement model in 2001 and has been actively working as a singer, actress, and model. She married singer Mickey Jung in 2007 but divorced him in 2017, ten years after their marriage. Subsequently, Mickey Jung remarried another woman in 2019 and started a family, while Harisu personally left a congratulatory message, which drew significant attention.
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