In an interview published by The Chosun Ilbo on January 19, Oh So Young expressed her gratitude to those who supported her family during the time of loss. “After I sent my husband away, my mind was so confused that I kept thinking about the people I hadn’t yet thanked,” she said. “So many people stuck with us until the end of his last journey and I am sincerely grateful.”
She added that listening to younger actors recount their memories with Ahn Sung Ki gave her great comfort. “Even senior figures such as President Shin Young Kyun and former Busan International Film Festival president Kim Dong Ho have remained by our side, even though it must have been painful for them to send a young man away. I think my husband would like to say goodbye to them from heaven.”
This marked Oh So Young’s first official media interview. Married to Ahn Sung Ki since 1985, she has spent more than 40 years quietly supporting his career while avoiding the spotlight. Despite his exhaustion and hoarse, broken voice after the funeral, he agreed to speak, saying, “I really wanted to express my thanks.”
Recalling December 30 last year, the day her husband collapsed, she said it was a normal, calm day. Ahn Sung Ki was sitting in a chair watching television when she gave him a snack, saying, “Please take this.” It became the last thing she said to the man with whom she had shared her life for 42 years. Although rescuers arrived quickly, when she regained consciousness, her husband had already been placed in the coffin.
“I gently touched his cheek and thanked him for loving me so deeply, for being a wonderful husband and a devoted father to our two children,” she said.
The memorial mass was held at Myeongdong Cathedral, the very place where the couple had married in May 1985. “During the mass, I was vividly reminded of our wedding day,” Oh shared. “It felt like we were allowed to say goodbye as husband and wife in the same place where we became one.”
Their love story began in 1982. Oh, then a sculpture major at Ewha Womans University, was skating in Taereung when she was approached by Shin Seung Soo, then Bae Chang Ho’s assistant director, and began working as a commercial model. She later met Ahn Sung Ki during a hospital visit and fondly remembered her first impression: “He seemed kind and his lips were beautiful.”
At the time, she didn’t fully realize how famous he was and simply thought of him as an older bachelor. But Ahn Sung Ki, eager to see her again, asked Shin Seung Soo to arrange another meeting. The two grew closer through trips to Yongin Recreation Forest and an exhibit of Henry Moore sculptures. “He became my first love and my last,” she said.
When Ahn Sung Ki went to the United States to film Deep Blue Night (1985), the long separation tested their relationship. During those months of distance, he sent her handwritten letters whenever he could. One letter, written in the early hours of Christmas Day 1984, was full of playful, affectionate lines that reflected his kind personality.
After their marriage, Oh So Young took on several roles for her husband, acting as his manager and stylist and even guiding him to schedules when he had no agency. “The more she appeared in good projects and received awards, the happier I felt,” she said. “Watching him try to be a good husband at home and a good father to our children has allowed me to love him consistently for over 40 years.”
Their eldest son, Ahn Da-bin, an artist currently working in the United States, returned abroad on January 17. Oh shared that both sons are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered help and support. “My husband spent his life trying to live like a good person,” she said. “In accordance with his wishes, our children will continue to strive to live a kind and sincere life.”
Remembered not only for his extraordinary career but also for his humanity, Ahn Sung Ki lives in the quiet devotion, love and gratitude of the family he loved most.
Sources: Wikitree
