Source: Segye Ilbo · 연예

What happened

According to Segye Ilbo, former T-ara member Jeon Boram (전보람) said she gave her mother, actress Lee Mi-yeong (이미영), 100 million won as spending money after her music debut. The account aired on JTBC’s “Salon House with Stories” (사연 있는 쌀롱하우스), where the pair discussed years apart after Lee’s divorce from singer Jeon Yeong-rok (전영록) and their later reunion living together.

The breakdown

Lee told the program that after the divorce she lived separately from her two daughters during a financially difficult period. She said she had only 2 million won in her bank account, lacked confidence she could raise both children alone, and sent them to their father — a choice she recalled with guilt and tears.

Boram was 11 at the split. She wanted to live with her mother but was told she could not. Lee pulled about 40,000 won from her wallet, gave Boram 10,000 won, and kept roughly 30,000 won. Boram said that moment made her understand why her mother could not take her in.

Segye reports the two moved back in together roughly eight years later. About one year after Boram debuted with T-ara in 2009, she told Lee she would give her money and insisted it be spent on her mother’s needs. Lee recalled asking casually how much — and being stunned when Boram said 100 million won, an amount Lee said she had never held herself.

The younger daughter also gave 5 million won, saying she could not match her sister’s sum but wanted Lee to use it as pocket money. Segye frames the segment as reunion testimony and post-debut gratitude, not a legal or contract dispute.

Why it matters outside Korea

Jeon Boram remains linked internationally to T-ara, a group that built overseas fandoms in the late 2000s and 2010s. Segye’s September 22 piece shows how Korean entertainment desks still treat JTBC talk shows as headline sources when an idol revisits divorce-era separation and later reconciliation with a parent who is also a public figure.

For readers abroad, the 100 million won figure sits inside a story about custody pressure, stated poverty at 2 million won in savings, and adult children supporting a parent after debut income — a pattern Korean variety audiences recognize but overseas clips may reduce to “idol gives mom cash.”

What travelers and expats should watch

• Clip vs. full episode: Social feeds may show only the gift moment. Segye’s account leads with separation, the 40,000 won wallet scene, reunion, and apology before the 100 million won detail — tone-check the original JTBC segment before sharing.
• Currency framing: Overseas reposts that translate only the largest sum miss why 10,000 won mattered as much as 100 million won in the same interview.
• Not legal guidance: Segye reports personal testimony about sending children to their father after divorce; it is not a court ruling or family-policy story.

Context

Read this as a JTBC reunion interview repackaged into celebrity-family news, not a verified financial audit or inheritance filing. Segye quotes on-air recollections about divorce hardship, roughly eight years apart in living arrangements, and voluntary gifts after Boram’s debut — including 5 million won from the younger daughter.

When desks lead with “100 million won allowance,” the fuller frame is a child who once read 10,000 won as proof of her mother’s limits later offering 100 million won once her career could — not a scandal about forced repayment.

Source

Segye Ilbo · 연예: “‘전영록 딸’ 전보람, 母 이미영에 1억 용돈…“엄마 위해 쓰라고”” — Korean original; entertainment reporting on a JTBC talk-show segment; paraphrased for briefing; amounts and timeline from Segye; read the original for full detail.