PETALING JAYA, Jan 3 ― Singer Amber Liu has opened up about the tragic death of her former f(x) bandmate Sulli.
In an interview with CBS This Morning, the 27-year-old said Sulli frequently struggled with cyberbullies after she left the K-pop group in 2015 and shed her innocent, girly image for a more mature look.
“After she was going through some image changes and taking on different types of jobs, it’s definitely not the image that she started out with and I think that change was very surprising to people.
“I always just thought it was just like, man these people, just let her live. Let her be an artist, let her be an actress.
“That's what art is, it's an expression. You can't expect the same thing from the same person constantly,” she said.
"Just let her live. Let her be an artist... This is a girl, just living her life."
K-pop artist Amber Liu (@llama_ajol) speaks out about her former f(x) band mate Sulli, who died by apparent suicide in October. https://t.co/qgDWatwCgV pic.twitter.com/3lai1NZNPmAdvertisement— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) January 2, 2020
Sulli, whose real name was Choi Jin-ri, was often the target of malicious commenters who saw her as a controversial figure in South Korea, where society remains largely conservative and patriarchal.
She would make headlines by simply posting photos of herself going braless or speaking openly about her romantic relationships online.
Sulli died by apparent suicide in her home on October 14 last year, prompting Korean lawmakers to propose an anti-cyberbullying law in the hopes of preventing similar tragedies from occurring.
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