Lee Min Ho he is one of the most legendary K-Drama actors, having won awards for his skills. Yet, he was once just a novice actor when he landed the lead role of Gu Jun Pyo in the 2009 K-Drama. Boys above the flowers, based on the Japanese manga series of the same name by Yoko Kamio.
Although this is now one of Lee Min Ho’s most iconic roles, he revealed in a new interview that he initially received hate for playing the character.
Lee Min Ho is currently promoting his new one tvN K-Drama Series, When the stars gossipin which he plays a gynecologist who joins the astronauts as a space tourist while on a secret mission on behalf of his potential in-laws who are chaebol.
Gong Ryong (Lee Min-Ho) is an obstetrician and is the potential son-in-law of the largest chaebol group MZ. He has a secret mission that he can’t tell anyone about. For his secret mission, he pays a large sum of money to travel to the space station as a space tourist. At the space station, Eve Kim (Kong Hyo-Jin) is stationed there. She is an elite space scientist and is currently on her first mission to a space station as commander. She is a perfectionist who strictly follows the rules and does not tolerate a single mistake in an industry where dangers lurk everywhere. His crew members include fruit fly research scientist Kang Kang-Su (Oh Jung-Se), who is the second son of a family that runs a global financial company.
— AsianWiki
Lee Min Ho revealed this after the first episode of Boys over the flowers aired, it received a lot of hateful comments. Gong Hyo Jin (also romanized as Kong Hyo Jin) wondered if it was due to the unusual (now iconic) curly hairstyle. Lee Min Ho explained that it was actually about his character’s bullying of Geum Jan Di (Koo Hye Sun). Of course, the two characters later fall in love, but Jun Pyo’s initial bullying is horrible.
LMH: “After the first episode of Boys Over Flowers aired, my mini homepage was flooded with hateful comments.”
GHJ: “Asking “What’s wrong with your hair?”
LMH: “No…For bullying Geum Jandi.”
Hyojin unnie 😭🤣
Goo Junpyo’s hairstyle was truly iconic 🤣
pic.twitter.com/XvGYsEAB2s— ♡ (@__3360) January 7, 2025
Despite the initial hatred, Lee Min Ho became a household name and synonymous with “rich” prominent men. His portrayal of the leader of F4 eventually earned him the “Best New TV Actor” award at the 45th Baeksang Arts Prize that year.
Watch the full interview below.
