Nam Tae Hyun has officially left WINNER. The singer was in hiatus due to his mental health issues and it seems that he will need more time to recover. As a result, he decided to withdraw from his group.
Since it was already decided that he will not be coming back anymore, YG Entertainment nullified his contract on Nov. 18, OSEN reported. The agency cited Nam's unstable mental health for its decision to remove him from YG's roster of artists.
The agency also stated that their main priority as well as WINNER's was Nam's health, so they gave him time for treatment and everything else. They have been patient and waited for his recovery so he can join the activities again.
However, since the singer's condition is a recurring one, something that he has since he was young, it is hard to say when he will be able to recover again and come back. With this, the agency said that Nam chose to leave since his group members are also affected because they cannot release an album without him.
On Nov. 26, via Instagram, Nam posted a handwritten letter addressed to fans. He apologized for his sudden departure from WINNER and thank his fans as well. As translated by Soompi, here is part of his message:
"Hello. This is Nam Tae Hyun. I am sorry that this unfortunate news was received by people who love me."
The singer explained in the letter that he went through a lot in the past couple of months. But although there were difficulties along the way, he was happy to have received love from people as a member of WINNER.
Nam added that the decision to leave his group and the agency was not made in haste but it was discussed for a long time. At the end of his letter, he thanked his supporters and expressed his wish to meet them again in the future through other music projects.
In other news, YG Entertainment also announced the disbandment of its very first girl group, 2NE1. This is another shocking news and fans cannot hide their frustration and surprise. The girl group officially disbands after seven years of promoting together.
Below is Nam's video teaser when he debuted in 2014: