Another celebrity couple have broken up amid mutual accusations. The actress Lee Min-young says her separation from Lee Chan a mere 12 days after they tied the knot was due to his vio.lent behavior, but the husband denies this.
Lee Min-young’s lawyer Kim Jae-cheol on Monday said Lee Chan hit the actress in the stomach and nose during a quarrel in their car about the makeover of their new home on Dec. 19, two days after they returned from their honeymoon. The actress was 15 weeks pregnant at the time. Lee Min-young stared blee.ding in the womb. She saw a doctor next day but misc.arried and underwent surgery on Dec. 21, the lawyer said.
The lawyer says the actress sustained multiple inju.ries including brui.ses on her left eye. He said she had been beaten by her husband several times before they married, adding he was collecting evidence of habitual viol.ence.
Lee Chan, who is also an actor, in a press release Monday said he and his wife slap.ped each other on the cheek during an argument. But he said the allegation that he kic.ked her stomach was “a complete lie.”
On Tuesday, Lee Min-young spoke to reporters from her hospital bed for 20 minutes, having undergone reconstructive surgery on her nose. The actress alleged she misc.arried after being kick.ed in the stomach by Lee Chan, who had beaten her several times even before their marriage. Lee said she believed he would become a different man after marriage but was bitterly disappointed. At his own press conference the same evening, Lee Chan denied the accusations. He admitted he and his wife sla.pped each other’s faces several times. But he said he had never bea.ten or kick.ed her unprovoked. Lee Min-young plans to bring charges against her ex-husband.
The two actors’ stories differ widely. Min-young told reporters Lee Chan h.it her on the head and face dozens of times and drove their car while clut.ching her hair in his hand. According to the actress, Lee Chan then kic.ked her in the stomach and dumped her in the street. Lee Chan admits hitting her during an argument in the car but said he neither drag.ged her nor kic.ked her in the stomach, causing the misca.rriage. In an e-mail on Monday, he said he slap.ped his wife when she said, “You’ve only become famous thanks to me” during a quarrel. He said she sla.pped him back, and so it went back and forth seven or eight times.
However, Lee Min-young said trifling arguments always ended in vio.lent behavior by Lee Chan, even before they married. According to her lawyer, the actress started blee.ding in the womb after being beaten by Lee Chan and was told by doctors that the fetus had died on Dec. 20. She underwent surgery next day. Lee Chan says the allegation that he ki.cked her in the stomach was “a complete lie.” In an e-mail, he said Lee Min-young called him on Dec. 21, two days after the violent incident, to tell him she was going to have su.rgery at 1 p.m., and hung up.
