2NE1’s Sandara Park says she lived almost ten years without speaking in the Philippines
Sandara Park said she immigrated to the Philippines as a child and “lived almost ten years without speaking.”
Sandara Park made the remarks during a guest appearance on the YouTube channel Yoon DoHyun’s ETC, where she spoke with Yoon Do Hyun about her childhood in the Philippines.
Sandara Park reflected on the time she spent there before debuting with 2NE1 and gave details about her age when she moved.
“I immigrated to the Philippines when I was in fourth grade, around ten years old. I stayed there until my early twenties, so I spent all those critical years—from puberty to adulthood—there.”
Yoon Do Hyun asked about how she adjusted to life in the Philippines.
“Was it hard to adjust in the Philippines?”
Sandara Park answered that the move made her even more withdrawn than she already was.
“It was very tough. I was already shy, but even more so as a child. I think I lived almost ten years without speaking.”
She explained why she stopped speaking at school and how that silence began.
“I couldn’t speak English well, nor Filipino, and once I tried to speak but mispronounced words, and the kids laughed. They were elementary students, so it was understandable, but it hurt me deeply, and I just stopped talking. Once, a teacher even communicated using sign language because she thought I was mute, which surprised her.”
When Yoon Do Hyun noted her parents’ likely concern, Sandara Park described how she coped after school.
“Your parents must have been very worried,”
“After school, I would always go home and spend time listening to music or watching popular Korean music videos I’d borrow from video stores.”
Yoon Do Hyun asked whether she wanted to pursue music from a young age, and Sandara Park confirmed that her early influences sparked the dream of becoming a singer.
“Did you want to do music from a young age?”
“Back then, it wasn’t so much about music itself but watching Seo Taiji and Boys and thinking, ‘Wow, this is fun,’ singing along and wanting to be on TV. Then, when I was a teenager, watching singers like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, I thought, ‘I want to be someone like that.’ That’s when I started dreaming of being a singer.”