'Will marriage fix loneliness?' BTS’ RM talks pressure, parenthood and why he's not ready for children

Kim Namjoon, better known to the world as BTS’ RM, never holds back from talking candidly to his fans. And on his latest Weverse livestream this Sunday (October 5), he once again opened up—this time about life’s heavyweight topics: marriage, parenthood, solitude, and the suffocating pressures faced by his generation in Korea.

At 31, RM addressed the constant questions about what society expects from him—and everyone else. He kicked things off with marriage, tackling the elephant in the room: the relentless pressure, especially on women, to tie the knot and have kids. “Especially for women, I feel like society and the media keep pressuring them about things like having kids and other expectations,” he said, before broadening it out to everyone. “We’re all being pressured, but I just hope everyone can live life in their own way. I don’t think there’s a right answer.”

He then questioned whether marriage really is the cure-all people make it out to be. “If someone can’t handle being alone, would getting married even make things any better? Because even after marriage, you might want to be alone,” he mused. In classic Namjoon fashion, he flipped the script: if you’re already good at being alone, you will probably thrive in relationships. But if you’re banking on marriage to fix loneliness? That’s a whole other mess.

Then came his musings on children—a topic that clearly weighs on him. With refreshing candor, he admitted he doesn’t feel ready. “Because I’m still struggling to take care of myself, so how could I bring a new life into this world?” he said, before laughing at his own childhood chaos. “When I think about how much trouble I caused my parents when I was young… imagine having a kid like me? Ughhh! Although they could be adorable. That’s why there’s no answer.”