Oh Ji Ho: Oh Ji-ho's Weight Loss -WHY?

Something is not quite right about OJH these days.

He has always been very thin during his career as a model. In one early photo, he looks almost frail, but that was also when he was quite young.

In Silver Knife, he had picked up muscle and weight. He looked wonderful. In A Second Proposal, at age twenty-eight, he had built up yet more body mass, and his muscular definition was beautiful. He was still a slim man, but appeared brimful of good health, vitality and strength. He glowed, and was almost too beautiful to look at with both eyes open.

Now, at age thirty, he seems to have gone back to ultra thin, and it appears to be in an alarming degree. I first noticed the difference in Super Rookie when he was wrapped in a towel, having just come from the shower. I was surprised to see how skinny he looked. His legs, which had become beautifully shaped as a result of working out, had changed, as had his torso and arms.

It bothered me a bit then, but I didn’t pay that much attention to it.

However, I recently saw him in a music video by V.O.S., and was horrified at the way he looked. His jaw was like a knife-edge. In one shot, the area beneath his chin was hollow. It really disturbed me. Oh hell…to tell the truth, it freaked me out. When I saw it, I thought, “cancer?"

Yesterday, I saw some stills taken at a Levi’s Redloop Jeans promotion. It was then that I realized just how far it’s gone. He looks terrible. His face is not the face I once almost fell on the floor over. He appears joyless and depressed.

I’ve noticed it’s a trend these days to have models look as though they’re bored to tears, sullen, irate, or all combined. The models/actors in the pix looked pretty grim also. I guess that sells pants. Who knows, or cares? The fashion industry is a demon from hell.

The thing I do care about is the fact that in one photo, he has a certain sunken look around the shoulder and breastbone that seems extreme. Particularly since his arms are at his sides, which is a relaxed position that does not exaggerate the natural hollows of that area.

I want to know: What exactly is going on? Is he sick, or under pressure from studios and agencies to be bone thin? Is he in a state of depression, perhaps emotionally distressed? Is there trouble in his love-life or family life? Any one of these things could cause someone to stop taking good care of him or herself.

The two logically possible scenarios are illness, or, applied career pressure from agencies or studio brass. Illness is something that comes and gets us when it wants to. Career pressure is something we capitulate to out of fear or crazy ambition. We all need to work to keep ourselves alive. Actors and models are no exception to that rule. No dollars, no bread on the table.

The photos below illustrate the changes in him. Click on the two lower images to enlarge for comparison.