DIA member Ki Hee Hyun (Cathy) performing on reality girl group survival show, "Produce 101." (Photo : YouTube/Mnet Official)
DIA's Cathy, also known as Ki Hee Hyun, has come under fire for making up a story about her childhood. The singer recently talked about her early years on a variety show but some netizens discovered that she was not being honest about life when she was younger.
Ki recently appeared as a guest on the KBS show "Happy Together" on Nov. 17, Thursday, and spoke about how she was quite popular in her hometown since her elementary school days because of her beautiful appearance. In the episode, she gave a detailed explanation about how she would receive special treatment because of her good looks such as being paid more at her part-time job, according to All KPop.
The musician also said that her beauty attracted customers to the restaurant where she was employed. However, after the episode aired, several viewers started posting pictures of Ki's childhood, calling out her lie.
Netizens shared several photos of Ki Hee Hyun's early years, including a picture from her elementary school yearbook, claiming that the K-Pop idol is blatantly lying about her appearance in her early days. One user even pointed out that she belonged to the same town as Ki and nobody knew who she was until she featured on reality girl group survival show "Produce 101."
Ki is not the first female idol to have been accused of lying. In August, "Oh My Girl's" YooA was criticized for "lying" about her educational background during an interview. Her agency later clarified the reports and apologized for the same, according to Soompi.
During Thursday's episode, the 21-year-old artist also opened up about her infamous "armpit hair" incident, which took place during DIA's location shoot in Hong Kong and Macau. A shot from the 9-minute video footage of the shoot revealed Ki's unshaved hairy armpits as they walked around the Macau Tower, which received mixed reactions from netizens.
Ki cleared up that even though it appears as if she had left her armpits unshaven, it was just an illusion that was created by a shadow. The idol added that she used to be called the "Korean Tang Wei." Wei was a Chinese actress who was known for not shaving her pits for a film.
Watch footage from Ki's appearance on "Happy Together" below:
