Park Hyo Joo Talks About Her "Now We Are Breaking Up" Role, Friendship With Song Hye Kyo And Choi Hee Seo, And More

Jan 11, 2022

Following the conclusion of “Now We Are Breaking Up,” Park Hyo Joo recently participated in an interview talking about her experience with the drama.

“Now We Are Breaking Up” is a realistic romance drama about love and breakups set against the backdrop of the fashion industry. Song Hye Kyo stars as Ha Young Eun, a fashion designer who is a firm realist, while Jang Ki Yong stars as Yoon Jae Guk, an intelligent freelance photographer who changes her mind about love. Park Hyo Joo plays Jeon Mi Sook, an ex-model and now a housewife. She appears as a high school classmate of Ha Young Eun and Hwang Chi Sook (Choi Hee Seo).

In the drama, Jeon Mi Sook is suddenly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She slowly prepares to say goodbye to her family and friends as she goes through emotional and physical pain.

Park Hyo Joo revealed that she lost 7 kilograms (approximately 15 pounds) to portray the character of a cancer patient. “I did lose some weight. It was quite difficult to lose the weight because I’m not the type to really gain weight in the first place. When I look at cancer patients, I see a lot of patients not being able to eat properly, and they lose weight. When I was reading the script, I couldn’t get myself to eat.”

She continued to talk about the changes and thoughts she went through while filming the drama. “It may be obvious, but we all are born and eventually die. It’s set like a math equation. I started wondering about death while playing the role of Jeon Mi Sook. I started to really look around a lot and realized what’s important in my own life. I also played a lot of roles as a working woman with prestige in the past, so I was happy to have this opportunity to play a role with more warmth.”

Park Hyo Joo shared some of the difficulties she faced while portraying the emotions of her character. “It was hard to maintain the emotions all the time. I was constantly holding onto the script.”

She also talked about her friendship with Song Hye Kyo and Choi Hee Seo. “We had great chemistry. I think we all loved acting to the same degree. We became closer while relying on each other when filming and talking about our characters.”

When asked what she would say to Jeon Mi Sook if she was a friend of hers, Park Hyo Joo said, “I want to tell her that she lived well. I want to acknowledge the life that she lived.”

Park Hyo Joo continued to share her love for the drama. “I love the title of the drama as well. I used to cry while walking when I thought of the title. If we think about it, we’re always breaking up with something everyday. I thought it was quite poetic and held great meaning.”

Park Hyo Joo connected herself to the character while filming the drama. In the drama, her husband has an affair with another woman. “I have a husband and a daughter. I thought about what I would do if I was in my character’s shoes. I would want to know if the other woman would be a good mother to my child. I want to be able to see this with my own eyes. It was hard to understand this process as Mi Sook’s sadness grew even more.”

The actress won the Best Supporting Actress award in the Romance/Comedy category at the 2021 SBS Drama Awards. “I was a little hesitant about the award since I received it before the drama ended. I was able to think a lot about the past year thanks to the drama. I pushed myself a lot while filming and kept doubting myself. Due to this, I was able to really embrace the award when I received it.”

Finally, Park Hyo Joo expressed her gratitude towards the viewers, saying, “I feel like everyone who enjoyed watching the drama shares the same DNA. It feels special. I think we all realize how precious it is to have people around us. I think this drama will be one that people will think of time to time later in the future. I am thankful.”