Former LIMITLESS Member Heeseok Shares Concerning Post Detailing Self-Harm Triggered By Depression, Anxiety, And Panic Attacks
Content Warning
Former LIMITLESS member, Heeseok shared a lengthy post detailing the hardships he went through with his agency, as well as his self-harm attempts triggered by his depression, anxiety, and panic.
The post that has many fans concerned reads as follows:
I’m currently in very unstable condition, so please understand if this is incoherent.
I didn’t want to write a post like this, so I clenched my teeth and endured it for 1 year, but now I’m sharing it because I don’t see any other way.
When I joined the agency and prepared for my debut, our agency went bankrupt after merging, leading to the cancellation of our lessons and even our practice room getting taken away, but in order to pursue our dream, we continued to prepare for our debut.
And in July 2019, we ended up debuting through LIMITLESS. After our first activity, which was like a dream, 2 Chinese members suddenly joined and not long afterward, due to our disharmony among members, I suffered from alienation and verbal abuse. I wanted to recover my relationship with the members, but it didn’t go smoothly, and as someone living in a dorm, I had no one to vent to, so my inner hardships worsened. I also told the CEO multiple times about the problems. But in the end, he overlooked it, and told me to hold it in because they’re just like that.
In December of last year, I felt like I could no longer endure it, so I told my CEO about the situation and asked if I could leave the group.
The CEO listened to me, told me he understood my efforts as well as the members’ issues, and promised to terminate my contract as soon as I finished the concert scheduled for the end of December.
At the time, I was miserable because I had to give up on what I wanted to do.
Even while preparing for what I thought would be my last concert, the disharmony with the other members continued, making practice difficult.
After the concert, I talked to the CEO about it, but he turned it into my responsibility and told me he would terminate my contract after my scheduled radio activities in early January.
Just like that, I completed all of the LIMITLESS activities and talked to the CEO multiple times, but postponed the termination every time for different reasons. And in a meeting with my parents, the CEO told them a different story to come between us.
Those 8 months was like hell for me.
I take medicine every night to fall asleep, and my depression, anxiety, and panic attacks are so severe that I just want to die.
Because of this, I even tried to take my own life. I couldn’t bring myself to tell my parents about this, so I told my CEO that I’m having such a hard time that I tried to take my own life. But the CEO overlooked everything. I’m sorry to my parents who’ll find out all of this through this post.
I feel like I lost my identity, and I feel like my life is falling apart day by day. After waiting for my CEO, who kept avoiding me, I ended up posting on my social media that I’ll be withdrawing from the group, and he hurt me by avoiding my calls and releasing an official statement claiming that it’s all false. And when he told me that my depression diagnosis is something that anyone can get their hands on, I felt like my heart ripped in two.
I’m really sorry I have to tell this to my parents and others who gave me strength, as well as my fans who loved me despite my lacking.
The thought that everyone will be happy as long as I hold it in caused me to keep it all in, but it’s too hard now. The thought that I don’t even know myself is only worsening, and I’ve been having so many negative thoughts that I’m having a hard time controlling my actions. I’m having a very hard time.
— Heeseok
On May 24, Heeseok made the sudden announcement that he’d be withdrawing from LIMITLESS.
Ahead of his 2019 debut through LIMITLESS, he made his name known through Mnet‘s Produce 101 Season 2 in 2017.