K-pop singer and actress Sulli was found dead at her home in Seongnam, South Korea, reports Korean news agency Yonhap. He was 25. Police said Sulli was found by her agent at the residence at 3:21 p.m. local time. Police believe that the singer may have died by suicide, according to Yonhap.
According to The Korea Herald, Sulli’s agent visited her home on Monday after becoming concerned that he couldn’t reach her following their last phone conversation Sunday evening.
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“Choi seemed to have lived alone in the house. It seems that she took her own life but we are also looking into other possibiilites,” a police official said. Yonhap’s report cited police as saying there were no signs of foul play.
Sulli, whose real name is Choi Jin-ri, was born in Busan, South Korea and first gained notoriety in 2005 as an actress in the television drama Ballad of Seodong. She began her singing career in 2009 as a member of the girl band “f(x),” which was put together by SM Entertainment.
In July 2014, Sulli took an extended break from f(x) and the entertainment industry entirely after suffering from “stress-related stomach pains,” which SM Entertainment attributed to rumors about her personal life circulating online.
“We regret to give f(x) fans this kind of news but ask for continuous support and love for f(x),” SM Entertainment said at the time. “Because she is suffering physically from her ailments and mentally from the malicious and untrue rumors that are spreading about her, Sulli has requested that she take a break from all entertainment activities. After careful consideration, the agency has decided to minimize activities and give her a break in respect for her wishes and to protect our artists.”
After leaving f(x) in August 2015, Sulli had recently been pursuing a solo singing career. She also took a role in the 2017 superhero movie Real. Last year, she sang on the song “Dayfly” by South Korean singer Dean. In June, she released her own solo song, “Goblin.”
Sully made headlines in the conservative Korean entertainment industry for being relatively controversial. At times she did not wear a bra, a topic she spoke out about on Korean network JTBC’s Night of Hate Comments show in July. “Going braless is one’s freedom,” she said at the time.
“When I upload my photos without a bra, people talk about it a lot,” she said. “I could have been scared. But I [wasn’t] because I thought it would be nice if more people could discard their prejudices.”
She was also at the receiving end of homophobic remarks for kissing her best friend, K-pop star and actor Goo Ha-ra, on the lips are her birthday party. In April, she accused fans of “gaze-rape” during an Instagram live stream that showed her drinking with fiends.
She revealed in 2018 on the reality show Jinri Store that she had suffered panic disorders from a young age. “Even close people left me,” she said. “I was hurt by them and felt there was nobody who understands me, which made me fall apart.”
Recent Instagram videos showed her crying and saying, “I’m not a bad person.”
