Dang, the dating news with Song Joong Ki went from zero to Defcon level in the span of a day. On the heels of the conclusion of hit cable drama Reborn Rich came news that Song Joong Ki was dating a British woman. His agency confirmed that and all seemed to be fine but as the hours ticked by came the usual delving into who/what/where/how of this new girlfriend. She is reportedly a British former actress named Katy Louise Saunders, and with her actress background it appears the Korean reporters are able to post about her since she’s not a private individual. She is also reportedly already a single mom to a little girl. There are also unconfirmed rumors that she’s pregnant, with a K-netizen claiming to have seen her and Song Joong Ki visiting an OB/GYN, and with that she was spotted coming into South Korea last week with Song Joong Ki on their way back from Singapore sporting what appears to be a giant diamond ring on her left ring finger. Take it for whatever it’s worth, true or not, the two are adults and whatever makes them happy is fine. Luckily this time around K-netizens are all “whatevs” with the news saying Song Joong Ki can do whatever he wants in his personal dating life just keep making good dramas. Amen to that.
He is crazy
Why would you call him crazy? He is allowed to date who he wants.
he’s crazy because he’s not living the life you want for him? lol
You’re crazy!!!
I wonder what his father will say…I also heard she has 2 kids not 1. Yikes! Slow down SJK!
If the rumors are true, good for him. As a fan, I just want him to be happy.
Amen indeed!
Be Happy Song Joong Ki!!! You live with your woman behind closed door and only you would know she’s the one that makes you feel happy, alive, and supported so that you can go out there and offer the best of yourself to the audience. Yay to pretty babies!!!
🥴 You meet someone from a completely different culture and language, with a kid, and within a year you’re already pregnant and getting hitched??? Is that even enough time to get to know the stepchild???
I agree. Song JoongKi is not thinking about stability for his son. If we saw characters on 90 Day Fiance do this type of stuff, we would be on full-on judgment mode.
What will his family think when they expect him to stay in Korea. Will Katy up-root her entire Western European lifestyle and live in a country she doesn’t know the language to? Or will SJK move to England to be with her? Whose going to take care of his son when he has custody with Song Hye Kyo?
Seems like he is moving way to quickly after being wounded from divorce. Katy may divorce him and take his earnings, especially if they have a kid and she asks for absorbent child support.
Wth, are you talking about. Whose son ? Why it should be our concern where they will live? They are not even marriage yet but people already talking about they will divorce ,rofl. If it’s indeed happen later on, be it. It’s their private life not ours. Dang, I do need panadol after reading this
“Whose going to take care of his son when he has custody with Song Hye Kyo”
what are you even talking about? There are no children from his first marriage, unless you’re from another dimension where SJK/SHK had a kid together.
I think K-netz are “whatevs and good luck” because he is already a divorcee. If this was pre-marriage when he was Korea’s golden boy it would be more of a scandal he was dating a divorced, single parent foreigner.
He does seem to be impulsive in relationships tbh. She is pretty. Is he going to move to Italy or split time between Europe and SK with her? Her kid (kids? Another rumour is she has two kids) is already school aged so doubt she can move to Korea full time depending on the custody agreement with her first babydaddy/husband. It will also be very difficult for a grown single parent Italian to adjust to Korean society even with a rich Korean actor babydaddy. It’s such a strict, judgemental society compared to Italy or the UK.
Yeah… lots of potential problems here and from what I heard, his family is very traditional as well and already had a hard time accepting Song Hye Kyo. Maybe this is him acting out (at age 37!).
His family warmly accepted Song Hye Kyo. They were proud of her. Its just it didnt work somehow down the line.
Add in the possibility of a in-laws who are likely conservative and have old-fashioned mindset…..
I mean… lots of supposedly ‘cool’ parents would have a major problem with their son getting into a serious relationship with a single mother. It’s just a fact that those relationships are more precarious.
Happy for him . I’ve watch all his dramas . Not a fan of Song Hye Kyo ‘s dramas since a few years but i dare to say if it was her who was dating a foreigner with child she would have been treated badly by knetizens .
👍 So true, “if it was her (SHK) who was dating a foreigner with child she would have been treated badly by Knetizens.”
I think it’s too early to say Knets are okay with this news. Good to see open minded fans happy for him. But I feel SKoreans are still very traditional in thinking. He’s got a huge fandom from other Asian countries and they are just as traditional in thinking. Time will tell and we shall see.
I feel like since it would be his second marriage, people don’t feel as protective? I think the more traditional people are more hesitant to fantasize about marrying a divorced man, even if that man is SJK. Like would he be accepted by the parents?
Men always get props for marrying outside their race, like they got some special skills to get this woman who is different. Like this conqueror mentality. Of course, women get backlash if they go outside their race, like “why are you looking down on the men in your race? why are you letting others take you from us and shaming us?” I remember reading somewhere the paradox of women being dismissed as useless and lesser and when they do something surprising, suddenly their choices are important enough to destroy an entire family, an entire community. So which is it, dude?
Don’t understand why need to bring up Song Hye Kyo in every article of SJK. They have been divorced for more than 2 years. I am sure the fans won’t be ok if SJK name being mentioned in dating news of SHK.
While divorce is a stigma, divorced women are seen as totally damaged goods and IMO Song Hye Kyo wouldn’t actually have been dragged all that much if the situation were reversed. Knetz are having a meltdown because SJK is a golden boy and they expected him to remarry some nice young Korean woman.
If it’s SHK dating and married a single dad, i actually would respect her the way I respect SJK in this case. It’s really hard to accept someone else child and accept them. That’s act of noble.
That’s misguided IMO – different people have different boundaries and it’s not worthy of respect to choose to go out with a single parent if that’s not a personal dealbreaker.
Such double standards in how Korean women are treated. He can do what he wants just hope the children are not hurt. They are the ones that are important
Good for him. He’s a grown man, he does what he wants. Rather its divorce or dating whoever he wants, at least he ain’t two timing anyone…that’s a different story if he did. People who say he is impulsive, I think he is just the type of person who knows what he wants and he ain’t letting anyone stop, him divorcing is proof enough. I wish him all the best.
Right??? Like he’s a grown man, who knows what makes him happy or not. Clearly, he wasn’t happy with his ex, and so divorced her. He’s allowed to find new happiness, whether that’s too soon for fans or not, it’s HIS LIFE. And it also doesn’t matter if his new girlfriend has 1 or 2 kid(s).
Everyone will make choices in life and hopefully accept the consequences for good or naught. I wish SJK and his lady-love the very best. I think he’s a wonderful actor and enjoy his work. Other than that, it’s none of my business to know or judge his personal life.
While you always personally hope for the best for everybody and we’re no one to judge… SJK has taken a real hit for this in the eyes of the South Korean public, divorce or no. It’s all people are talking about and the mood has changed REAL quick once it became known that Katy Louise Saunders was the woman in question.
IMO, she really is pregnant and that’s the only reason he acknowledged this.
He flexed his girlfriend in public, now Knetz are digging all the information they could about this woman and leaving them all out in the streets. Media is incessantly writing about the rumored pregnancy… This could put pressure on him to make marriage announcement soon if it’s true that she is already pregnant.
I am not a fan of SJK per se but I respect him for coming out in the open with his gf and quickly confirming it. As for her status of being a single mom of one/two kids, I won’t judge her nor SJK’s choice. In fact, I salute him for daring to choose someone totally opposite of what conservative SK society or fans would expect. It’s time to break the mindset that only single virginal Korean women are worthy to be his gf or wife. Blended families are a dime a dozen in some western countries and in some cases they form the majority of parents in some primary/high school classes. I have seen some Korean women marrying non Korean men and adjust to living in a foreign country. Hopefully this will work out long-term for Katy if she chooses to live in SK with SJK. American/Greek actor known as Andreas the Greek who appeared in the first episode of Cafe Minamdang has a Korean wife and he seems to be doing fine in SK as an actor, cinematographer and his own video production company. He speaks Korean well too. If there’s a will and genuine love for Koreans, the language and Korean culture, a foreigner will fit in fine in SK imo.
Veteran actress Kyeon Miri the mother of Lee Da In who is dating LSG was a divorcee with two daughters too. She has a notorious reputation by association as her second husband allegedly conned people sending many into bankruptcy yet she can still get roles in SK dramas. My point is, K-netz or I-netz shouldn’t be too judgemental about Katy’s former marital status or whether she has kids or not. Wish SJK and Katy the best of luck and good wishes.
Again, many people choose not to date single parents because those are their boundaries. Someone not having those boundaries isn’t worthy of respect or praise.
Even in the free for all West, most parents would have a hard time accepting this sort of relationship and for good reason as there’s a higher than average chance that it won’t work out for reasons obvious to anyone who’s been in a relationship with a single parent/divorcee or of a different cultural background.
I’m not really a fan of attacking Korean society for what is actually a very typical reaction.
Ditto. Kudos to him. Not a fan but he just went up a notch in respect for me
1) For not hedging and just matter of fact confirming the relationship.
2) For not giving a damn about what is deemed conventional in Korean society. I mean a foreigner is already an eye opener by Korean standards … and she’s also a single mom to boot and he doesn’t care. Hurray for a 21st century modern Korean man.
He has really a progressive mindset. Good for him.
@jusash, well said exactly my thoughts. Even the Queen Consort Camilla of UK was a divorcee with two kids yet she has a successful second marriage with King Charles 3rd. Same as Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, his Crown Princess wife Mette Merit was single mum of one son. If Kings and Princes can marry single mums why not SJK? I just can’t with the holier than thou attitude of ppl judging single moms like they’re the untouchables or lower caste people. We’re in the 21st century not the dark ages. Sigh.
They are adults, if they are happy, what else katters? I wish them the best.
I don’t care about his personal life as long as he doesn’t commit anything illegal. It his life he can do whatever he wants.
Please song joong ki, whatever you do, please do not marry this woman.. Please, you are jumping from frying pan to fire
“Katy Saunders was only born in the UK, she grew up and lives in Italy and has almost always worked in Italian productions. She is very intelligent, she has a degree in economics from the Bocconi University of Milan, the most important in the country, she has never had scandals and she is considered a good actress.
Furthermore she was the protagonist of a very famous movie, “Tre Metri Sopra il cielo” ( “Three meters above the sky”, which invented the tradition of love locks), so she was the idol of a generation of Italians but she always remained humble and kind. She was for some Italians what Olivia Hussey was for the Koreans, Son Joongki is lucky to have found a beautiful and intelligent woman like Katy, who preferred to work little and well and have a real private life rather than exploit her enormous fame as a teenager and maybe ruin her life!”
Oh yes, I got the same Olivia Hussey vibe from Katie, mixed with Ali McGraw (Love Story).
SJK really is drawn to iconic beauties. What’s it like being Song Joong Ki !?!???!!! LOL
Hope this relationship lasts a lifetime for him. Life is a journey and we should cherish and celebrate the chance encounter with happy moments when we are lucky enough to have them within grasp. Good for him!
Nay-sayers be wallowed in their own negativities.
His life, his choice. As far as I get, thats still a decent choice. A single man having a proper relationship with a single woman, altho I’m not a fan of shotgun marriage but its different culture so yeah. Hoping for more challenging roles in the future, like pure villain, or in different genre, like horror or the like. I’d like to see him grow and reach further,
He just confirmed he’s in a relationship, thar doesn’t mean he’s getting married soon. Even if she’s pregnant, she’s not Asian therefore she doesn’t need to get married before she gives birth.
True that, its just most of the times in SK when the gf is pregnant, esp if its widely known, the next would very likely be shotgun marriage.
Is it to hard to wish him all the best???
I mean, it’s his life. He chooses this way to live his life so who are you guys to judge his decision??? You give him money? You are his colleagues? Part of his crew or team? Family members? Friends?
Everyone deserves to love and be loved again despite having a failed relationships in the past. Let this two love birds enjoy their happiness. If this doesnt work, everyone can move on. Life must go on.
SJK just proved that he is responsible and a gentleman. Accepting a child not his own is an admirable quality. This just proves that he loves his gf unconditionally, no matter what her past was and no matter what people around will say. The only thing that is shameful are negative, judgmental and irrelevant people’s opinion.
I don’t want to be judgemental but he should take his time. He is jumping too fast. If it ended up in divorce in future, he will have it hard considering she is not korean and all those rumours around her. His family may have hard time accepting it.
So the witch hunt has begun lol. I don’t really care about her past just happy for them if pregnancy rumors are true. THAT gonna be a really cute baby for sure.
That was fast and with her and two kids, if his bio one is on the way.. whatever happens with them, I just hope the kids don’t get hurt. These two are adults, kids have zero choice if the adults rush into a marriage and produce another within a year.
Don’t worry about the kids. He’s rich; he can support them financially if they weren’t together anymore.
Money doesn’t make for a happy childhood and definitely doesn’t erase the trauma that situations like these cause if things implode.
Please for the love of everything, do not say that to anyone who is well off but has had a terrible childhood. Where tf is this idea that money solves everything coming from.
So many rumors, such as she already has two kids with different men, one of which was from an extramarital affair. Both kids are being raised by their respective fathers (which is surprising and weird because mothers don’t easily give up on custody of her children. Moms will go the ends of the earth to be beside them no matter what). She was once engaged to a rich Italian businessman. There are other things being published and people are sooo.
What also perplexes me was it was him who announced the relationship through his Agency. He knows they will be documented from Bali to Singapore and Incheon airport, they attended weddings, left clues here and there up to the public confirmation and now they are not saying anything to extinguish or dispel these rumors. So you can picture it like he was the one who fed her to the wolves which is kinda… not so smart?
He also made sure he thanked her and all her dogs by name so netizens can find out her identity.
The thing is if he has kept it to her being his translator, many would still give him benefit of doubt. Also the timing to the launch of GLORY is so so dodgy. Thanks to him now all the headlines for this whole month will be the dirt surrounding his new love.. What a mess…
Yuck,she having sex without protection with 3 different men!!Use condom song joong ki if you doesnt want hit jackpot STD aka HIV.
In Italy (she lived there from a young age) there are no rumors about her children
@Eloise @Ume @Glynis: Agree. SJK exposed her by publicly dating all over knowing it was being filmed (side by side airport arrival in front of the cameras was clearly on purpose), revealing names during a speech, agency publicly announcing the relationship. But now all kinds of unpleasant rumours are circulating he and his agency are on mute and not issuing so much as a denial. Most Korean celebs do their utmost to protect the privacy of their dating partners but he went out of his way to make the relationship public and now her (and her child/children?) exposed.
SJK’s agency usually pounce on every rumour. Yesterday they even bothered to deny some random rumour he auditioned for the BBC last year. But nothing on rumours that his girlfriend is a 2 x babymama with an adulterous past and she is already knocked up with his kid?
Ironically, if SJK had kept things on the downlow, and then the relationship was exposed against his will by Dispatch or whomever then he would have received more sympathy despite the rumours because it would seem like she was revealed against his will. But he chose to put her and the relationship out there and feed her to the wolves as @Eloise. The way SJK and his agency have handled this is so messy.
There are several articles, write-ups circulating about this British woman which of course are tagged / linked to SONG JOONG-KI’s name.
This brouhaha is all on him, he was careless, he paraded her to the public, he made it easier for her info to be found. So why is his agency not doing anything???!!
@Eloise @Ume @Glynis: Agree. The way SJK and his agency have handled this is a mess. SJK revealed her by publicly dating all over knowing it was being filmed (Korea airport arrival in front of cameras was obviously on purpose), saying names during a speech, agency announcement he is dating this woman. Now all kinds of unpleasant rumours are circulating and he and his agency are on mute, doing nothing to deny or defend. Most Korean actors do their utmost to protect the privacy of their dating partners but he seems to have done the opposite.
Usually SJK’s agency jump on every rumour. Yesterday they even bothered to deny a random rumour he auditioned for the BBC. Why not also issue a denial about rumours his girlfriend is a 2 x babymama with an adulterous past who is already knocked up with his kid?
Ironically, if SJK had kept things on the downlow and the relationship was exposed by Dispatch or whatever, then he would have received more sympathy despite rumours because it would seem like he wanted privacy and she was exposed against his will. But he chose to put her and the relationship out there exposing her(and her kid/kids?) so as @Eloise put it …not so smart.
SJK is not the first media play king. HB stir the pot with LA grocery shopping trip with SYJ. They could have just said nope don’t even think about going there together “in a group” or stand near each other. Then JCW is another pot stirrer king. His fan meeting showed a video of a female hand with ExTx (ESTJ) personality stroking an INFP cat (JCW’s mbti). His Jiji fandom is well known for shipping him with Nam Ji Hyun who is an ESTJ. JCW also flogged the bts uncut SP kissing scene with NJH to the hilt in Manila and Jakarta fms. Saying his favourite drink is coconut water just like NJH said in her fan meeting too to further stir up his Jiji shippers. No other female leads of JCW were shown in his fms videos except for NJH and SP’s OST was sung and played as bgm. He exploited NJH’s image in 2017 fm till today he still exploited her image & SP association. Calculative and cunning just like SJK using his gf.
I have only one thing to say, she is so pretty!
Oops! Sorry for the posting the same thing twice. I thought it hadn’t worked.
He must be love drunk or by nature the kind who is hardheaded or does what he wants. I wouldn’t’ say it’s all on SJK, the girlfriend also, they are in this together (have a theory that the Agency is strongly against them going public but they still did it anyway).
The girlfriend also should know better. She should not have invited SJK to her relative/friend’s weeklong Indian wedding in Bali, taking into account that the guests will be taking videos and photos of him there.
She should have insisted she will not be seen with him at the airport.
She should not have gone with SJK at his golfer friend’s wedding, which led to them asking everyone not to post/share photos even if they are group photos with the bride and groom (if I happened to be one of the guests, my thoughts would be “can we just not include the girlfriend in the group photos? it’s so annoying.”)
But Song Joong Ki and this British girlfriend, they are both celebrities and industry veterans per se, definitely media plays and twist and turn of events are coming very soon.
@Ellie: I agree that he is love drunk and hardheaded and his agency isn’t on the same page as him with taking this relationship public.
I also agree their behaviour at the golfer friend wedding was actually very rude. It’s not like his girlfriend is long time friends with the bride and groom or other people in attendance that she HAS to be in the big pictures. She is just there as SJK’s plus one. The gracious thing to do would be for his girlfriend to have graciously offered to step out of the pictures so that others could take and share pictures freely as they would have done rather than telling them they can’t share pictures at their own close friend’s wedding. The guests were likely to polite to say anything but I bet they were annoyed.
Pretty lady, great looking guy, potential bun in the oven….NONE of my business. If K-netz or K-society have laid claim to ownership of their lives, which would be pretty twisted (IMO)… I still wish the couple Happy Tidings! If their relationship doesn’t pan out, then that’s their issue to sort out, it’s their business, NOT mine. I’m not quite understanding the references to ‘boundaries’ in some comments that seem to trespass over the privacy of SJK… what does that have to do with the private lives of people who happen to be celebrities? I’m very curious about the mindset where this originates and do not wish to challenge the “right or wrong” of it. I would like to understand it if someone will explain.
If you watch When The Camellia Blooms with GHJ playing a single mum of a boy with KHN’s char falling for her and his mum objected strongly you would have understood how SK society in general think of this sort of relationship. For a Korean woman to marry a white Caucasian male, not so much of an objection esp if he’s rich, handsome, high social status. But God forbids if a Korean male marries a Caucasian single mum. The connotation is that she’s a village bicycle (done the rounds of shagging) hence all the shaming language comments on SJK’s gfs. Single mums in SK are seen as the undesirables, uncultured, uncivilised women who bring shame to the family’s name & honor that kind of mentality. These are the boundaries parents would not cross. It was portrayed in Attorney Woo when her bio mum hid for 9 months took study leave then pretend she studied overseas than being found out as a single mum. She quickly gave Woo to her dad to raise as a single dad.
Totally Agree with the points you have raised.
This is exactly Traditional Mindset, among Asians – be they Korean, China-Chinese, SE Asian or whatever
BUT what is amazing = is that a Celeb, who does NOT bow to convention.
He’s a liberated 21st century male! That, should be celebrated.
Celebs can set the tone, and eventually change close-minded minsets.
It’s like how Leslie Cheung had the guts to come out back then too. He nonchalently just wore his skirt on stage etc. Dude wasn’t just multi-talented … he had guts to totally march to his own drumbeat. Even when there was so many gays in the industry – they all preferred to live that aspect of life forever in the shadows.
Thank you for explaining this deeply-rooted societal mindset and I’m getting that all the visceral commentary condemning a ‘tainted’ woman with a past’ is akin to a modern-day version of ‘stoning in the public square’. This theme seems to run a common thread throughout many cultures. I’m curious as to how SJK will navigate his career path on his terms if he pursues a future with his lady. Expanding his reach abroad on a global stage seems like the logical progression and I think he has enough savvy intelligence to make it happen. Thanks again for referencing K-dramas that beautifully illustrates your point.
I agree with most of your points, but the shaming of Korean women who marry foreigner/Caucasian men is far worse. She will be seen as cheap and called slurs by other Korean men.
This issue definitely would take a hit on his career. Fans support actors carrying with them certain emotions for that actor and I’ve seen fans of SJK who at the moment already decided to walk away en masse, dropped whatever the things they do for him and have moved on to something else.
WHAT I WILL REMEMBER FROM THIS IS — Netizens and media outlets feasted on the background of the woman, and Song Joong Ki as a BOYFRIEND and public figure did not do anything to deter them from spreading more rumours.
He has been doing gimmick, fan service and media play since his younger days but this one did not turn out well.
Announcing that he is already in a relationship right after his drama ended (the drama ending got mixed reviews BTW) and a day after Christmas totally ruined the mood of his fans. They felt shattered they’d rather not see the real face of the woman he is dating.
THEY DID NOT CLEAR ANYTHING WHICH MAKES YOU WANT TO BELIEVE THE RUMOURS ARE TRUE.
if he married someone from asia then is not too bad as almost same culture bt this is totally a different, as someone might know the Real korean!. Anyway none of my business just saying….wish him good luck!
It’s not serious. An affair for several months.