The kpop system with tight control from the companies maybe have the benefit of .... tight control. The companies keep track of what they doing, or at least try to, and if they do "bad stuff" or meet the "wrong people" they try to stop it. It's gets harder to control them of cource when they get older, but still. So they kind of live in a bubble compared to Idols in US that mabye get to live the idol life more freely and also meet a lot of differnt persons in the industry that want to take advantage of them.
But you have a couple of "break downs" in kpop. Former T-ara member Areum does not look that healthy for one example.

Why hasn’t any K-POP idols CRASHED out the way most childstars do?
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This plus the strict discipline and sense of honor in our society further helps avoid this. Do Koreans crash out? Hell yes, but far less than the West. It's the same reasons in Western nations that the least violent or angerable section of your society happens to be the Asian population
As an Asian living in US currently, I will say that culture is very different. People in Asia are much more prone to difficulties compared to Western People. They just swallow everything and focus on their goal, plan or job. Also idols have very tight schedules, which means even if they are at the brink of crashing out they won’t, cuz their hands, minds and legs are busy all the time. So there is literally 0 time for crashing out or they just forget because of other things.
Also idols live together and as a person who studied at boarding school your friends will help you a lot consciously or unconsciously. They will always be there for you and with you. It helps you a lot believe me or not both mentally and emotionally.
Also idol industry has very strict rules like in any traditional Asian kid’s family. So they are used to that too. They restrict many things and navigate you all the time like in Kindergarten, which keeps you afloat mentally.
Also there are a lot of supportive fans on your side, managers, friends from other groups.
If crashing out is inevitable then it means idols get into hiatus. I mean crashing out is a stretch, but creation of mental health issues is an equivalent for crashing out in Asian society or idol industry most of the time. So, idols go to hiatus to take care of themselves, so they won’t crash out or go crazy in literal sense
These are good points.
In Western society, we're taught to focus on doing things only for ourselves. Many of us think we only have ourselves to provide for and live for. Imagine if someday we no longer feel like we love ourselves. We might engage in self-destructive behavior such as abusing drugs, committing crimes, and being a nuisance in public. It's easier to do that when you don't worry about providing for your loved ones.
I'm not shaming Western celebs for this. I know they're often just crying out for help. They don't know how to deal with their pain, so they do regrettable things.
Whereas in Eastern culture, we're taught to think about our parents, our siblings, our future spouse, and our future children. We're taught this at a very young age, so it's ingrained within us. We can't afford to "crash out" because we have people to feed. Doing things that would land us in prison or ruin our professional reputation is simply not something we'll do if we care about providing for our loved ones.
There's more emphasis on family, so there's something beyond yourself to think about.
Again, individualism vs. collectivism is at play. There are pros and cons to both.
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But to clarify my previous post, I’d like to emphasize the very real existence of quiet suffering among K-pop idols.
Korean society likes to hold public figures accountable, so you’d see idols giving public apologies for things that are deemed socially unacceptable. While this idea of accountability seems like a good thing, it can also be extremely humiliating. There’s a high chance of being blacklisted from future work.
It can be brutal, and you don’t always know what an idol, past or present, is going through. For instance, T.O.P only got caught smoking weed, but he got cancelled by Korean society and the Korean entertainment industry. People didn’t know what he dealt with, and he only really spoke about this more recently.
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but we had it all didn't we?
propofol
room salons
marihuana
gambling
prostitute ring
drunk driving - older generation always had multiple cases of those
hard drugs
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but we had it all didn't we?
propofol
room salons
marihuana
gambling
prostitute ring
drunk driving - older generation always had multiple cases of those
hard drugs
I think people are missing the point from OP. We aren't just talking bad behaved adult celebs.
He is talking about CHILD stars that have gone bad almost as a direct result of child fame. The ones that enter the industry at an unreasonably young age, and because of the awful shit and monster pressure they get exposed to, "crash out" or go bad before they are even full adults, or because of whatever happened, it erupts later into adulthood.
Your Amanda Bynes, Lindsey Lohan, The Two Coreys (thats a big throwback), Zachery Ty Bryan, Jake Lloyd and Britney Spears to name a few. The kid from Terminator 2.
Now some of these might be just young people that have too much money and freedom and not enough control or good people looking out for them (Millie Bobbie Brown seemed to get very, very close to this). Some go off the rails because they are the "cute young kid" and "Handsome teen" but then get forgotten about and cast aside when their cute kid looks become awkward adults and can't handle how everything is just gone. The more tragic ones are the ones the get exposed to simply awful shit, behind closed doors abuse, uncaring adults, predators and all taht stuff. The Two Coreys are tragic examples of that.
The question is, "why does k-pop, that also has lots of minors entering the industry, also has a shitload of immense pressure and also likely has some god awful behind clsoed doors going on, seem to have avoid the "Broken Child Star" thing?"
I also don't quite think it's as simple as "Asian culture means they just internalize it more"
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The environment in K-industry is like candy cane next to Hollywood
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To not end up like that Alex had left DRIPPIN and moved back to Germany
He said in multiple interviews that he only ended up in the entertainment industry cause his dad was exployting him. It started when he was 4 and his family moved to Korea. He was so done by the constant attention as "the half German/foreign" kid and how everyone recognized him all the time on the streets. It was due to that his dad attended a TV show with him when he was little where foreign and mixed kids living in Korea got shown and he became the viewer's favourite kid, so his dad got asked to attend some more TV shows. However it ended that his dad asked to get Alex on TV himself oneday and did it more and more each time, where Alex said when he was a little kid he attended up to 6 TV shows each month and wherever he was going, people constantly recognized him, tried to talk to him or ask for a signed autograph etc. When joining DRIPPIN he felt it was too much for him after a while and decided to leave the group and move back to Germany, stating he was missing the normal life of a child and now being a young adult he is attending a university in Germany.
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That’s not true though looking at the suicide rate/drug busts/etc
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I think people are missing the point from OP. We aren't just talking bad behaved adult celebs.
He is talking about CHILD stars that have gone bad almost as a direct result of child fame. The ones that enter the industry at an unreasonably young age, and because of the awful shit and monster pressure they get exposed to, "crash out" or go bad before they are even full adults, or because of whatever happened, it erupts later into adulthood.
Your Amanda Bynes, Lindsey Lohan, The Two Coreys (thats a big throwback), Zachery Ty Bryan, Jake Lloyd and Britney Spears to name a few. The kid from Terminator 2.
Now some of these might be just young people that have too much money and freedom and not enough control or good people looking out for them (Millie Bobbie Brown seemed to get very, very close to this). Some go off the rails because they are the "cute young kid" and "Handsome teen" but then get forgotten about and cast aside when their cute kid looks become awkward adults and can't handle how everything is just gone. The more tragic ones are the ones the get exposed to simply awful shit, behind closed doors abuse, uncaring adults, predators and all taht stuff. The Two Coreys are tragic examples of that.
The question is, "why does k-pop, that also has lots of minors entering the industry, also has a shitload of immense pressure and also likely has some god awful behind clsoed doors going on, seem to have avoid the "Broken Child Star" thing?"
I also don't quite think it's as simple as "Asian culture means they just internalize it more"
So you know how Western child stars tend to get their money all at once? Sometimes they're too young to know how to deal with that fortune, and it also puts them at risk of getting taken advantage of by grown adults who just want their money. This is going to make them have some unhealthy relationships at a young age, and I'm referring to platonic relationships, not necessarily romantic ones.
I know this happened to Justin Bieber, and he had a hard time trusting people for the longest time after he realized he's been betrayed by many people.
Whereas in the K-pop industry, idols get paid in increments. Sometimes they have to wait years after debut until they could truly make a profit. They don't really have the means to spend lavishly. I think this teaches them how to manage their finances properly. I'm not saying that system is perfect. A lot of idols didn't make enough despite promoting for years. However, it's a reason why we don't see idols just throwing away their money, ending up in debt, etc.
For all of the faults that the K-pop industry has, the system still looks after young idols enough so that they don't make poor decisions early on. There might not be a noble motive behind it, as maybe these companies just want their idols to stay out of trouble for the brand reputation, but it works in that regard.
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