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| Actress Choi Ye-bin stars as Ha Eun-byeol in the TV series, "The Penthouse: War in Life 2." Courtesy of SBS |
By Lee Gyu-lee
Actress Choi Ye-bin, 22, who has garnered fame with the role of Ha Eun-byeol in the popular TV series, "The Penthouse: War in Life," has denied allegations that she bullied her classmate in middle school.
The actress' agency, J,Wide-Company, released a statement Monday, saying the accusations are "far from the truth."
"We have confirmed with the actress the accusations raised on an online community, and the accuser's claims are far from the truth," it said. "We even double-checked it with her friends, because we could not rely on the actress' own memories only."
Adding that it will not allow any defamation of Choi, the agency threatened to take legal action against those who spread "malicious rumors" about her.
The allegations surfaced Monday when someone, who claimed to have attended the same school with Choi, accused her online of verbally abusing her repeatedly.
"Choi would whisper in my ear, 'Go die, (profanity),' 'Why are you coming to school?' So I would wear headphones (to avoid that)," the accuser wrote. "You bullied me throughout all of our middle school years."
The accuser claimed that she is still not over the trauma she experienced from the bullying and has had a hard time seeing Choi on TV.
"I had nightmares for days after seeing you in the series," she said. "It's so stressful and difficult to see that same look, gestures and sarcasm you gave me in middle school on the screen."
When the issue made headlines, several others, who claimed to be her friends, defended the star online.
"I have known Choi since the seventh grade and we went to the same high school… she was innocent and always hard-working ― far from being a bully," one of the users wrote. "She would never pick on or swear at other people."
Choi is playing the spoiled high school student, Eun-byeol, in "The Penthouse: War in Life 2," who is the daughter of the series' main villainess, Cheon Seo-jin. With her mother as the school's principal, she becomes the "queen bee" of the high school and bullies her classmates.
