Girls' Generation's Taeyeon Once Ran Away From SM As A Trainee—Here's Why

When Girls’ Generation guest-starred on Yoo Jae Suk‘s You Quiz on the Block this week, Taeyeon opened up about the time she ran away as a trainee.

From the moment Taeyeon won SM Entertainment’s Youth Best Competition, earning herself a training contract with the company, it’s been clear just how talented she is. As such, given her natural skill, many assume she must have had a relatively easy time as a trainee.

Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon as a trainee

In reality, however, Taeyeon went through several struggles—from losing her ability to sing high notes during puberty to difficulties with dieting. In Girls’ Generation’s recent appearance on You Quiz on the Block, Taeyeon remembered a story of just how hard dieting became in her trainee days.

“At that time, I was a bit chubbier than everyone else,” Taeyeon revealed of her trainee days, which began when she was just fifteen years old. On an episode of Happy Together, the star vocalist confessed that she doesn’t diet or go out of her way to exercise, and she once reported on Cultwo Show that eating instant ramyeon was her dieting secret. However, when she was a young trainee, staying slim didn’t come so easily to her.

Dieting was so difficult.

— Taeyeon

Taeyeon went on to explain that dieting was hard enough, but she also had to sing well on top of that. Keeping up with her vocals and keeping her weight low was “hard to do,” says the singer.

Eventually, the struggle of dieting caught up to Taeyeon and she couldn’t stand it any longer—so much so that she decided to run away from SM Entertainment altogether. “I was so angry and mad that I returned home,” she revealed on You Quiz on the Block, referring to her family home in Jeonju, North Jeolla.

Thankfully, Taeyeon did end up returning to her SM Entertainment dorm to continue training for her superstar debut. However, her experience is a true representation of just how difficult K-Pop trainees have it.

For more on the struggles of aspiring stars, read about how contestants on Mnet‘s Idol School broke a window to run away due to hunger and sleeplessness: