FNC Entertainment reportedly disclosed that AOA’s Jimin has decided to depart from the K-Pop group and the entertainment industry after former member Mina revealed allegations detailing her ex-bandmate of bullying her for a decade in a series of Instagram posts.
Her departure all started when Mina first took to Instagram to share various posts with lengthy captions on Friday, initially detailing that she’d been continuously bullied and tormented by a member of AOA.
Mina also shared that she didn’t want to leave the all-female K-Pop group and alleged that she tried taking her own life during her time promoting with the act.
“Because we were in the same car, she just [forced] me to take mood stabilizers and sleeping pills, and I fell asleep. I could feel that I was breaking down bit by bit even though I had a busy schedule. I even attempted suicide because of her,” she wrote according to news outlet Korea JoonAang daily.
In response to this, Jimin later reportedly wrote the word “novel” in Korean with a black screen on her Instagram story seemingly dismissing Mina’s bullying allegations but took it down.
It was after this that Mina called out the AOA leader and then posted a picture of self-inflicted scars on her left wrist asking Jimin to apologise and admit what she had done.
Mina later posted another caption accompanied by a black image, encouraging her fans to not stay silent if they are ever being bullied.
Following the allegations, she shared in an Instagram post that Jimin and the other AOA members and managers came to her home on Saturday to discuss.
Though she decided to accept former bandmate’s apology and not to speak on the matter moving forward, Mina went to expose her in a now-deleted post in response to Jimin’s personal apology on Instagram, leading the AOA member to reportedly step down for the group and the entertainment industry.
Mina made her K-Pop debut as a member of AOA in 2012 before deciding not to renew her contract with FNC Entertainment in 2018 to pursue a different path. She later signed with Woori Actors Entertainment to venture into a career in acting.
Her agency, Woori Actors Entertainment, released a statement on her well-being in light of the bullying controversy, reportedly stating she is resting and will keep an eye on her to regain her health.
