‘Parasite’ actress Park So-dam on her battle with cancer: “I cried every day”

Parasite actress Park So-dam recently opened up about her battle with papillary thyroid cancer in a new interview.

Park So-dam recently guest-starred in the most recent episode of Urban Zakapa member Cho Hyun-ah’s YouTube talk show. She appeared alongside actor Seo In-guk, her co-star on upcoming K-drama Death’s Game.

When asked about her recovery journey while she was diagnosed with cancer, Park admitted that it was not an easy hurdle to overcome. “My voice was gone for a while,” she told Choi, as translated by SBS Star. “It took me eight months to recover my regular voice.”

“Honestly, it hasn’t been a while since I felt okay,” she added. “Until I reached this state, I had been trying to recover and get back on track as soon as possible.”

Park also touched on how her ailment had affected her performance while filming Death’s Game. “I was having a hard time at the start of the Death’s Game filming. I cried every day when I got home from filming,” she shared, to Seo’s surprise.

“I didn’t want to cause any trouble to everyone involved, the director who trusted me enough to cast me, all the crew members, and the other actors, so I tried to act like everything was fine. But sometimes, it was physically hard to keep going.”

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Park also mentioned that she had initially assumed that she was “okay enough” to handle Death’s Game, and took it hard when she began filming and found that her health was taking a toll on her work. “It was hard to accept that,” she admitted.

Despite her tough time during recovery, she reassured both Choi and Seo that she is doing much better now. “Lately, people have been saying to me things like, ‘You look so relaxed lately’, ‘You seem to be in a good state’, a lot,” she said.

“I’ve become so much better physically and mentally that now I can confidently say that I’m doing well and that everything is getting better,” the actress added.

Park’s agency revealed that the actress had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer back in 2021. While the company did not go into specifics, it did mention that the actress had undergone surgery to treat the condition.

Meanwhile, Death’s Game is slated to premiere December 15 on Prime Video in select regions. The series also stars the likes of Kim Ji-hoon (Money Heist Korea), Super Junior’s Choi Si-won, Woori The Virgin’s Sung Hoon and more.