“Stayed true to who I am”: As You Stood By star Lee You-mi opens up about handling intense emotions in the Netflix K-drama

Netflix's K-drama, As You Stood By, premiered on November 7, 2025, and has become one of the latest hits on streaming platforms. The K-drama narrates the story of two friends who have grown up in traumatic situations, and one of them finds herself in an abusive relationship and tries to get away from it with her friend's help.

Lee You-mi plays Hui-soo, who has been living a tragic life due to her abusive husband, Noh Jin-pyo, played by Jang Seung-jo. In a recent interview with The Korea Times, You-mi shared how she had to try to remind herself to create distance between herself and her character due to the intense emotional moments that her character goes through in the K-drama. She said:

"On set, I stayed true to who I am."

More on this in our story.

As You Stood By star Lee You-mi opens up about handling intense emotions in the Netflix K-drama

In Netflix's latest K-drama hit, As You Stood By, with the devastating lives of two friends the series highlights the abusive relationships and their victims. Eun-soo comes from a family where she saw her mother being abused by her father. While Hui-soo, a former children's book writer, has been in an abusive relationship where her menacing husband, Noh Jin-pyo, has been physically assaulting her.

Later, in the series, the friends decide to kill Hui-soo's husband for saving her from the abusive marriage, but have to face challenging twists and turns to protect themselves. In the recent interview with The Korea Times, Lee You-mi revealed that the emotional weight of the character was too much, and she had to create ways to keep the character away from herself.

To add to her previous comment, she said:

"When I felt myself getting drained, I reminded myself to keep some distance - to let Hui-su’s pain exist only during the scenes."

Furthermore, she also shared that Hui-soo's character from the Netflix K-drama helped in making her a more "grounded" person in real life and shared:

"It’s the first time I felt like I truly met a character who made me stronger. Hui-su’s struggles and choices helped me become more resilient and grounded as a person."

In the interview, the Korean actress also revealed that the theme of As You Stood By, which focuses on narratives of female characters who try to "make their own choices", is what made her take up the role. It was not just the intriguing performance of You-mi as Hui-soo that gained viewers' attention, but also her physical transformation.

The actress shared that she wanted Hui-soo's issues to be visible through her appearance. She was in an abusive marriage and not living a good and healthy life; therefore, You-mi tried to make this visible by losing a significant amount of weight while playing the character, and said:

"I naturally ate less and slept more during shooting, so the change came easily. Maybe I was made for this role."

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Along with Lee You-mi, As You Stood By also stars Jeon So-nee, Jang Seung-jo, Lee Moo-saeng, and Lee Ho-jung, among several others.

Also Read: Will As You Stood By Season 2 happen? Speculations explored

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