Sandara Park Talks About The Cultural Differences As A Celebrity In The Philippines

After initially becoming famous with ‘Star Circle Quest’, Sandara
Park began to speed through the highway that was the Filipino
entertainment industry.

She was even confirmed to appear on 4 programs a week! And as the
number of her TV appearances increased, she gained more and more
popularity. But some of the unique customs of Filipino broadcasts were
difficult to understand for Koreans.

“In order to be a TV star in the Philippines, you had to be active as
a couple with a star of the opposite sex who was chosen for you by the
broadcast companies. And most Filipino celebrities considered hiatuses
deadly to a star’s career.”

Like you have to follow Roman rules when visiting Rome, Sandara
faithfully followed the rules of the Filipino celebrity industry.

“To tell the truth, even during ‘Star Circle Quest’, I held on even
when things got hard, thinking ‘I’ll be able to relax after this’. But
as soon as ‘Star Circle Quest’ ended, I was put into four different
programs. Sigh~ I didn’t get a day off for a whole year. I even had to
sleep in the car. But I must have a lot of stamina. I was hardly ever
sick. (Laughs).”

Sandara Park, who has a huge amount of stamina despite her frail
girlish looks, was able to make it through her endless schedule with her
optimistic personality. When we saw Sandara smile brightly as she
talked about how she made a lot of memories while running around the
broadcasts stations to follow her hectic schedule after her debut, we
could feel the love and affection she feels towards the Filipinos.

The person that the Filipino broadcast company chose for Sandara to
be paired up with for her ‘love team’ was Hero Angeles, winner of ‘Star
Circle Quest’. Next to Sandara always stood Hero Angeles.

“I did most broadcasts with Hero. In dramas, movies and CFs etc,
Hero was always the counterpart to my role.”

Though she did form a ‘love team’ with Hero thinking it was all part
of the custom, it caused an uncomfortable situation for Sandara because
of her honest personality. She dropped a bombshell when she said on
one Filipino TV show that ‘Hero isn’t my type’. On Korean variety shows
remarks like this would’ve been considered nothing more than humorous
material, but it was different for the Filipinos.

“All our fans at the time cried. I think I didn’t understand enough
about the whole ‘make-believe couple’ concept.”

It became a chance for her to see for herself how deep the roots of
Filipino customs really were in their fans. Another questionable custom
for Koreans is sexy photo shoots. At the time, such photo shoots were
considered necessary as part of the process of child actresses maturing
into adult actresses.

Sandara also received an offer for a photo shoot. She accepted as it
was the suggestion of one of her seniors who worked for a broadcast
company that also ran a magazine. She believed it when she was told she
would just have to wear a skirt and a top. ‘UNO’, the magazine that
offered Sandara her photo shoot was actually a prestigious male
magazine.

“I’m on the petite side so I was called a ‘primary school kid’ in
the Philippines a lot. I accepted the photo shoot offer because I
wanted to show a different side of me.”

But when she arrived at the scene, they demanded a bikini shoot.
Though she was hesitant, Sandara had been working without a manager and
lacked the experience to amend the situation, especially when all the
preparations had been made. It was just one result of a just-matured
young lady working in the entertainment industry without a manager.
But the photo shoot that passed by without any problems in the
Philippines was made a big deal back in Korea. It was revealed too late
in Korea last April and started up the ‘Sandara Park sexy photo shoot’
controversy.

The pictorial showed Sandara Park in the Philippines in 2006 wearing
heavy make up, a black corset and bikini etc. for ‘UNO’. Some people
said cruel things like ‘Sandara must’ve really needed the money’. They
do say that the most unexpected crises hurt the most. Sandara had
remained calm talking about herself until now, but she showed sorrow and
regret while recollecting these events.

“I was really upset when people said things like ‘She did it because
she needed money’. I was just trying to follow their customs, they
didn’t even tell me I had to do the shoot.”
It made her even sadder to see her family in pain because of her.

“My parents were really shocked. I’d never regretted becoming a
celebrity. I’d never even felt sad or angry that I had to give up my
privacy. But when I saw my family watch as the public made assumptions
and misjudged me, I felt regretful. It was really hard for me.”

Translations Credits: sjay.x @ YGLadies.com

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