Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - The Tragic Downfall of a K-Pop Idol - The Goo Hara story

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

Goo Hara was a South Korean singer and actress who rose to fame as a member of the K-pop girl group Kara in 2008, later embarking on a successful solo career in Japan . Despite professional success, she endured relentless online harassment, a traumatic breakup in which her ex-boyfriend assaulted her and threatened to release intimate videos, and battled mental health struggles.

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But then she loses it all. Why? Now, her name's Guhara, and Guhara is eight years old when this story starts, living in South Korea, and unfortunately for her, her parents are having a lot of problems in their marriage. And then, one day, in 1999, the worst happens. Her mom just leaves. Like, she abandons her and her brother without telling them why or even saying goodbye. And that's it. They never see her again. Even though she only lives a few miles away, she never visits, she never calls, and she eventually signs away her parental rights.

While Guhada's dad is taking jobs all over the country working, trying to support them financially. So dad leaves Gujada and her brother with their grandma, and grandma raises them. And so Guhada grows up here, and she's really into singing and dancing, so she works on that a lot. And 17 years go by, and it's now 2008. And because she works so hard on her singing and dancing, she's chosen to join this K-pop girl group called Kada. And once Gujada joins, Kada blows the fuck up. Not only in South Korea, but they start getting big outside of South Korea too.

And they tour, and they release a bunch of albums, and they do the whole thing. So Gujada starts getting super famous in this world. And eight more years pass, and it's now 2016. And the members of Kada, their contracts expire, and the group eventually decides to disband and each do their own thing. So Guhara, she's like 25 years old now. She's like, cool, I'll just go solo. And she goes solo, and she puts out a little album and a bunch of singles.

She's also getting roles in movies and on TV. I mean, you get it. She's still doing extremely well. Money and fame. In fact, some might say she got everything she's ever wanted. Her life is essentially perfect. Until. Unfortunately, even with all the success, Gujada is kind of having a hard time, mentally.

Apparently, she's never really gotten over being abandoned by her mother, and it's always weighed on her emotions. Not only that, being a K-pop star in South Korea comes with its own set of problems. Like she's constantly being watched and judged and bullied by the fans and by the public. They micro-analyze her every move and they hold her to an impossibly high, unachievable standard. The way they treat K-pop stars in the East is intense, way more intense than the way we treat celebrities in the West. And on top of that, it gets worse because one day in 2018 something crazy happens. An ex-boyfriend of hers, I guess out of nowhere, reveals that he had recorded them smashing,

and he's threatening to release a video he made of it to the internet. Basically, Guhara has a sex tape she allegedly didn't know about. And this is a huge deal, because in the K-pop world, this would immediately end her career. So from here, this PsychoX breaks into her house in the middle of the night one night while she's sleeping, and this, of course, escalates into an argument. which then escalates into some kind of physical fight, and both of them end up going to the police to file a report against the other one.

And ex-boyfriend claims that she assaulted him, while Gujada claims that he assaulted her and that he's trying to blackmail her with their smash tape and that he filmed that tape without her consent. Also, boom, she files a lawsuit against him. Now eventually this all goes to court, and ex-boyfriend is found guilty of my husband, of most of the things she told police he did,

and ultimately he gets a year in prison. Which is great for Gujarata. However, even though no one sees the smash tape because it's never released, this trial is public and it's big news. So her fans find out about the tape's existence. And so, kaboom, this flows up into a huge scandal. Because even though Guadha's like 27 years old at this point,

she's expected by a lot of the public to be all, pure and virginal. I guess this is the expectation with K-pop stars, specifically the women. Them having a boyfriend is a big deal, much less them having sexual contact with a man, can't have a K-pop star seeing a penis? Oh, how dare they? And so, this negative publicity is a nightmare for Gujada. And suddenly the public is trashing her, she's getting all kinds of hate online, and it's all building up, and suddenly it feels like no one likes Gujada anymore. And this is a lot for her to take.

Then the thing she feared would happen starts to happen. Her career begins to crumble. And her agency drops her, they decide not to renew her contract. And to make it even worse, her best friend, who's also a K-pop singer, suddenly unalives herself. And Gujada is, of course, devastated. I mean, all this horrible stuff is going on with her career and suddenly she lost her friend? I mean, these two women were really close. This is horrible.

And at this point, this is all too much for her to take. And about a month later, she posts this selfie on Instagram with her lying down in bed, and the caption reads, Good night. And then, Gujada, unfortunately, unalives herself. But that's not actually the end of her story. Because days later, her funeral is held, and it's a private funeral. just family and friends so like fans can't get in. And at this funeral, her mom shows up.

The same mom who abandoned her and her brother back in 1999 when she was eight. And her mom like demands to be put in charge, like handling preparations, coordinating the memorial, stuff like that. And other family members are like, nah, bro, chill. Not only that, she's apparently going around the funeral, socializing and networking with people. She's asking all the celebrity A-lister's for selfies. selfies. Gujarra is a celebrity, so they're like other famous people at her funeral. So she's like, hey, can I get a selfie? I mean, she's just being weird about all this and not acting like someone whose daughter just passed. And so everyone is giving her the side eye. But here's where it gets really crazy. Guadha's estate has got to be worth millions of dollars at this point, as she was a star for over a decade.

We don't know the real amount, as it's not public information, but it's assumed she was worth millions. Well, according to South Korean inheritance law, Guadha's money would automatically go to her offspring. However, since she doesn't have any kids, it would then go to her parents, her mom and dad. Yes, the same mom who was never in her life is about to get millions. of dollars. And so dad, who also wasn't in her life much because he had to travel to work all the time, he immediately does the right thing and he signs his portion of the money over to his son, Gujada's brother, this guy, Hohen. And Hohen, he can use this money however he wants. But mom, she's trying to keep her millions. She don't give a fuck. She's trying to get paid. And so Hohen,

the brother, actually sues his own mom to keep her from getting all of Guhada's money. And eventually, Eventually, all this ends up going to court, with Hohen's side arguing, this woman was never around, she signed her parental rights away, how is she entitled to Gujahara's millions? While mom's side is arguing, fuck you. And so after about a year in court, the court is unfortunately stuck with the existing inheritance law as it is, and they have to give mom her portion. And so they give her 40% of Gujahas millions, while dad gets 60%, which he of course signed over to his son, Hohin. But Hohin keeps fighting to get the law changed. And eventually, in

2024, the Korean government finally passes a new law stating that deadbeat parents like Gujada's mom will no longer be entitled to inherit their children's estate. And they name it the Gujada Act.