Jang Gyu-ri has finally explained why she walked away from girl group fromis_9 back in 2022, and her answer is refreshingly honest.
In an interview with TenAsia held at the Namoo Actors headquarters in Cheongdam to mark the end of her drama ‘Four Hands’ (포핸즈), the actress said she decided to leave the group so she could devote herself fully to acting.
According to the interview, Jang Gyu-ri debuted with fromis_9 in 2018 and left the team in 2022. In the period before her departure, she was juggling fan meetings, album preparations, album promotions, and filming for the drama ‘Cheer Up’ all at the same time. Scheduling became so difficult that the members often had to rehearse without her, and she began to think, “Am I just causing trouble everywhere?” That, she said, is when she decided it would be better to focus on just one thing.
“I wanted to act since high school,” she said of the long-held dream. “You can do both singing and acting, but I’m not the type who’s good at multitasking.”
‘Four Hands’ is a youth drama about music prodigies at an arts high school, covering friendship, love, rivalry, and growth. Jang Gyu-ri played Hong Jae-in, a violist with absolute pitch.
Despite leaving the group, she says she still gets along with the fromis_9 members and keeps in touch. The biggest change since going solo, she added, is having to handle everything alone — a pressure that only makes her want to do better.
