He’s demonstrating his reach!
Koreaboo
Actor Lee Min Ho is synonymous with “rich”. The actor is known for playing some of the richest characters in K-Drama history, from Boys over the flowers TO Heirs TO The King: Eternal Monarch. For years, netizens have joked that he is the “king” of playing rich characters and is so allergic to playing a poor character that Lee Min Ho is forced to reject any script in which his character does not be rich.
@rakuten_viki Practically 😂 . . . . #leeminho #boysoverflowers #kdrama #kdramamath #kdramaday #boymath #girlmath #kdramas #fyp #viral #meme
♬ money._.lisa – ✮
Now, Lee Min Ho has proven everything wrong by finally taking on a new role: poor and unemployed!
Lee Min Ho’s latest K-Drama is tvN‘S When the stars gossip, which premiered over the weekend. He plays the role of an obstetrician-gynecologist turned space tourist who is on a secret mission on behalf of his potential in-laws, who are chaebol. Min Ho’s character Gong Ryong meets astronaut Eve Kim (Gong Hyo Jin) in this mission.
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
Gong Ryong was not born into a wealthy family. Instead, his mother died after giving birth to him, and he was raised by his aunts, who work in a pub. Gong Ryong worked hard as a high school student, getting a perfect score on the CSAT and eventually becoming an obstetrician-gynecologist. Unfortunately, he was still broke and eventually lost his job.
When is The Stars Gossip with Lee Min-ho and Kong Hyo-jin airing now 💫
Coming from two different worlds and with separate missions, an astronaut and a space tourist find themselves trapped in space, only to begin falling in love with each other. pic.twitter.com/eUZeWJ8Pkj
—Netflix (@netflix) January 4, 2025
This twist shocked viewers, who had never seen Lee Min Ho as anything other than rich.
THE #LeeMinHo they think it’s never possible
Look at his car 🤣🤣🤣 I can’t believe I finally saw him living poor #WhenTheStelleGossip pic.twitter.com/ZXb7UYwdtO— MinJiSooHo critics 🐐 (@itzemmixkc) January 2, 2025
Finally!!! I saw @ActorLeeMinHo depicting the role of an unemployed man with a poor socioeconomic status 😭😂#WhenTheStelleGossip#WhenTheStarsGossipEp1 pic.twitter.com/FFbbCyUQXO
– opportunity; ⬠ 🍉 (@rndvsh) January 4, 2025
#LeeMinHo he really did it for the “always plays a chaebol” gang🤭
Extremely poor, does anything for money👍🏻 He looked fresh and SHOWS HE CAN DO SOMETHING😍🔥 never manages to dull his charm even in rags🤭#WhenTheStelleGossip#WhenTheStarsGossipEp1pic.twitter.com/XyZP17r4sr
— Fi🌸 (@Fifi1700) January 5, 2025
While netizens marveled at how far we have come with Lee Min Ho now playing broke characters, some K-Drama fans confessed that Lee Min Ho simply doesn’t have the right vibe for a poor person. Her face is too rich!
the kiss took me by surprise 😆
I can’t believe I was alive to see Minho play a poor broke ass, career dumpster fire character…ugh, hilarious
(that hairstyle too…you can’t take the chaebol beauty away from him 😂)#WhenTheStarsGossipEp1 #WhenTheStelleGossip #LeeMinHo pic.twitter.com/ir0lGUcNb0— 𝓛𝓮𝔂𝓵𝓪𝓱🦋 (@kdramaLeylah) January 6, 2025
Lee Minho is not fit to be poor. Even though he is poor, his aura cannot lie. His aura is too expensive 😭😭😂#WhenTheStelleGossip #WhenTheStarsGossipEp1 pic.twitter.com/zIOmXDnuyT
— hanidaero (@aunaiseu) January 5, 2025
You guys wanted him to be poor so bad.
Now he’s poor, oh
And after? Shepherd?
#WhenTheStelleGossip #LeeMinHo pic.twitter.com/BWM8QTH9TR— Bangtanbunny⁷ and Cafe Latte😌 (@joonlovesme_) January 4, 2025
Some couldn’t believe that Lee Min Ho was “poor” at all. They said it felt “weird” and “wrong.”
Lee Min Ho is so used to the era and aura of a rich guy that his being poor doesn’t satisfy me at all 🤣 He smells like money even through the screen. #WhenTheStelleGossip
— 🦋♥️🌟 (@Iactinsanehere_) January 6, 2025
It seems illegal to watch Lee Min Ho be poor😭😭😭🤣🤣🤣
— 𝙟𝐂💕 (@Nicegirljojo) January 6, 2025
Is Lee Minho poor in this new drama? He probably heard you guys ranting…but omooo…that sounds so weird 😭😭.
— Jumoke, the future director (@Jumokeotex) January 6, 2025
On the other hand, some found Lee Min Ho’s new character to be a “refreshing” sight to see.
It’s nice to see this Lee Minho guy… A poor… 😁 pic.twitter.com/ezSKonrPYS
— hurricane81|belovedwolfquokka|pinkyave|🐺🐨|🐷 (@dopanamgil313) January 5, 2025
Lee Minho as a poor man, this is refreshing 😆#WhenTheStelleGossip #WhenTheStarsGossipEp1 pic.twitter.com/xiP4aupqDj
— ♡ (@kdramaloveu) January 6, 2025
While Lee Min Ho’s most famous roles are rich, he’s actually no stranger to playing troubled characters. He is happy to return to his roots.
People… before you embarrass yourself by saying it #LeeMinHo I’ve never played a bad character, watch his very first dramas and then go watch him in Gangnam Blues and Pachinko… especially episode 7!
Nothing was said about it. Next!— M (@AmNohbdy) January 5, 2025
in 2021:
GQ: “What kind of character would you choose if you were the director?”
LMH: “I want a character who wears 3-stripe slippers”
LMH: “I played poor and realistic characters”
*wish granted* 🪄😉#LeeMinHo#WhenTheStelleGossip pic.twitter.com/FGHicNSPpB
— purple_heart87💜 (@xjinnyxpurple) January 5, 2025
When the stars gossip airs every Saturday and Sunday at 9.20pm (KST) and is available for international streaming via Netflix.
