Girls' Generation's Seohyun Performed Through Everything—Even On The Day Her Grandma Passed Away

Outside of significant illness or injury, many idols go their whole careers without missing a single performance, no matter how often they have to be on stage. Of course, that doesn’t mean K-Pop stars don’t face the same day-ruining, life-altering problems we do. Take Girls’ Generation‘s Seohyun for example, who performed on stage even on the day her grandma passed away.

Seohyun was scouted by SM Entertainment at the age of just 11 years old, debuting in Girls’ Generation when she was 16. Before that, however, she spent much of her life living with her grandmother. As such, the two had a very close relationship.

Girls’ Generation’s Seohyun as a child with her parents and grandmother.

During Girls’ Generation’s recent appearance on You Quiz on the Block, Seohyun opened up about how difficult it was when she eventually lost her grandmother. “I had a hard time when my grandmother passed away,” Seohyun explained, adding that she saw her grandmother like a second mother figure.

Seohyun went on to reveal that sadly, her grandmother passed away in 2012 when the star was 21 years old. But even more tragically, the day of her death also coincided with a very important event in Seohyun’s career: Girls’ Generation – TTS‘s debut stage for “Twinkle.”

Many people in the same situation would take a day off work to process and grieve, but Seohyun did the opposite. “I heard the news of her passing early that morning,” she recalled, “but because it was also the debut of the unit group, I had to get on stage and smile.”

Watching the M Countdown performance, you’d never know Seohyun was going through such a devastating time.

However, looking back, Seohyun confessed that she wishes she hadn’t pushed herself so hard. “I wish I had listened to my heart a bit more,” she admitted, remembering the hardship she faced.