After fourteen years away from the small screen, actress Lee Young Ae‘s return in 2017 with the SBS drama Saimdang, Light’s Diary wasn’t the hit it was expected to be. Not her fault, the world of K-dramas has changed fundamentally since her 2003 pan-Asia hit Dae Jang Geum (Jewel in the Palace). So while K-dramas might not be her sauce anymore, her classic and enviable Korean beauty features remain an unchanging asset as South Koreans continue to her hold up as one of the most famous actress beauties of all time. She’s in the pages of Elle Korea March 2019 edition showing off her elegance in contrasting black and white dressy looks, giving every woman out there envy eyes for looking this amazing still at 48 years old.
Lee Young Ae is so pretty! ❤
The headline should read: “Thanks to plastic surgery, Lee Young Ae remains elegantly beautiful…pictorial””. Not trying to disrespect you Miss Koala. It’s just that many many years ago I saw her in a music video with HK celebrity Andy Lau and her younger face is so different from.what it is today. For one thing,that prominent square jawline is no longer there. And it sure looks like she’s had a lot of work done on her face . It looks unnatural. Just my opinion.
I think she’s natural beauty. She’s not pure korean by the way. She has germany blood if I’m not wrong. She was and still the same.
She is pretty but she was and still the same means it is just not natural. I am not saying it to put her down. Its just at 48, you are not supposed to look the same as you were in your 30s.
What?? Where did you get this information that Lee Young Ae is part german? Source?
LYA BA majored in German Language and Literature at Hanyang University if that is of any relevance.Source: Wikipedia page.
I knew it, she’s not pure Korean, her looks is not representative of general Korean, and her eyes has colors like hazel brown. Thanks for validating that. but with regards to PS, I dont know she looks natural to me but isnt that’s PS goal to look natural. though she look little different from Gang geum days, she looks heavy there.
Go Ara has hazel-colored eyes too… Eye color does not indicate mixed ancestry really.
candycane, that’s what they told you, but common traits for Asian heritage is dark brown/black eyes. Im not heavy on Korean history, but it is near Siberia, along with Japan. that part of land Siberia was occupied by European Russia in 16th century, the possibility of mixed marriages would have occured as early as that time. not sure with Germany, maybe together with British invasion of South China provinces during Opium wars or earlier. several generations would have made some traits dominant or recessive, dont know if the term is correct.
@Ginger Crunch, my minor was French when I was in the uni. Does that mean I have French ancestry? Also @ y’all who think that lighter eye color is a sign of European ancestry; please educate yourselves thank you.
@pretty autumn I should have explained more in that maybe her degree major confused people into thinking she was of German descent either way can anyone please advise further? Upon reading her bio on wiki it’s very impressive with all the humanitarian work she does she’s like a Saint.
There should be a disclaimer for all pictorials saying ‘Model has had extensive PS therefore please exert caution when using product’. This pictorial with LAY is flawless she looks like 28 years old not 48 and unsure if she has had ps but I never paid much attention to actresses faces until I started noticing huge differences when watching dramas and I can say it’s disconcerting because a lot of them look really pretty before ps and freaky as hell afterwards. Example is Jun Hyo Seong from the group Secret.
I don’t think she has plastic surgery. Photoshop yes to smooth out fine lines but she looks the same to me (after a google search of old pictures). I don’t see any square jawline, at least not prominent to my eyes 🙂
I see what you mean there. She had a squarish jawline in that video with Andy Lau but her other features have largely remained the same. It’s been reported that one in three women in South Korea have had some form of plastic surgery/cosmetic enhancements. It is what drives their entertainment and beauty industries. Fans of Korean celebrities should just accept it as a fact instead of blindly defending their bias. Only Song Hye Kyo, Kim Tae Hee and a handul of others can claim to be natural beauties and they are the exception rather than the norm. And that’s the reason hey are revered in Korea. I personally have nothing against actresses getting plastic surgery as long as their faces look natural post surgery. I have a bigger problem with so called actresses who can’t act, whether someone is a natural beauty or is irrelevant to me.
It’s very common to get procedures to slim down the face, just some injections on the cheeks to remove the fat. Even if they don’t do it, the photographer will Photoshop the slim face effect too.
So regarding squarish jawline, most celebrities have that look when younger. Few were born with V shape face. Just look at the HK and Chinese stars, same V shape faces.
I guess my take is if they don’t do PS excessively and please do it safely, it is fine.
She doesn’t look like that. That’s a lot of photoshopping and filtering. Ohh well all magazines are like that.
These photoshopped pics added to plastic surgeried faces. The first two pics her face is bigger than her torso and the photoshop looks badly done. Koala should stop posting magazine shoots with such lies – the hedlines – or change the headline to unnatural and tampered with pics of celebrities.
Why people are being so negative? They are tired of their lives that’s why they keep in throwing negative comments…. Sigh here.???
I dont get why everyone is so negative here. Yes this picture is photoshopped to an extent, its a pictorial so it is to be expected. But that doesn’t change the fact that Lee Young Ae is a very elegantly beautiful woman in real life and has one of those classic looks you simply don’t see often. In candid shots she does look older than these produced pictures but she still extremely beautiful and definitely doesn’t look her age.
she look aged but sooo pretty in her drama and video.
I don’t think she looks like in her 30 since her 30s was way younger than that.
Lee young ae is a beautiful woman young and older she is beautiful without make up and is stunning after makeup. Make up can make you look as though ps was done but who cares I love le young ae with ps no make up and make up she is a gorgeous and beautiful person with presence and radiance