Comedian Kim Byung-man confessed about his marriage with his ex-wife and the shocking story from the past.
On the 25th, Kim Byung-man joined the TV Chosun entertainment program ‘Lover of Joseon’, where he candidly shared his story of his remarried wife, two children, and his difficult past.
Recalling his first marriage, he expressed, “It felt like I was in a pit.” Despite registering the marriage in 2010, they started living apart just two years later. He said, “Everything was my choice, so it was my failure,” adding, “I had to live apart from my mother right after marriage, and financial issues added up.”
Kim Byung-man revealed that his ex-wife demanded complete control over the finances, owning his digital certificate and resident registration card, and he didn’t even know the password to his bank account. He added, “All I had was a check card, but I always heard ‘over the limit’, whereas my ex-wife was using credit cards with limits of 20-30 million won and withdrew all the cash every month.”
Even when he suffered a spinal injury in the U.S. in 2017, risking total paralysis, his ex-wife wasn’t there. He said, “Isn’t a wife supposed to be there?” adding, “She subscribed to my life insurance then. She could have made a lot of money if I had died.” He bitterly noted, “This isn’t ‘lover’, but something that should come out in a documentary about incidents.”
Despite this, he could not easily decide to divorce at the time. “I passed the comedian test after 8 attempts, and I gained attention with the difficultly acquired ‘Darin’ character, so I was afraid the divorce would hold me back,” he confessed. He endured with the thought, “I will not go back to poverty, I will not make my mother work at a restaurant again.” But he finally faced a dead end and received a divorce ruling in 2023 after three long years of litigation.
After a long fight and starting a new life, he reconnected with his current wife. They had shortly dated during his unknown days but met again after a long time and promised marriage. Kim Byung-man described his wife as “like spring water that I met just before dying in the desert,” and confessed his love by saying, “I just wanted to cling. (She is) not my wife but the home I want to go to.”
He didn’t hide his affection for his two children. “I get choked up when I see the kids. The kids saved me,” he said, adding, “I’ve finally realized the meaning of the word happiness. I want to be a proud dad.” The broadcast showed scenes of him playing with his kids as a ‘doting dad’, proving his new life.
Lastly, Kim Byung-man expressed his overwhelming emotions regarding remarriage and a new family, saying, “I think my parents in heaven would be pleased.”
