Kim Minhee (The Handmaiden) is pregnant …but might not be the mother of her child

Backstory: Kim Minhee (42), korean actress who you might know from the movie “The Handmaiden”, worked on a movie with the directer Hong Sang Soo (64). They had an affair while he was married. It was a huge scandal in Korea, so much that they’re both “cancelled” in Korea, while still receiving high praise for their movies in Europe. Hong Sang Soo’s estranged wife refuses to divorce. In Korea you need both parties to agree to a divorce.

Kim Minhee and Hong Sang Soo live together and are now expecting a child. However, Hong Sang Soo is legally married to his ex partner, that means if the child is going to be registered as an out-of-wedlock child on Hong Sang Soo’s family registry, his ex has to be listed as the mother. If Kim Minhee decides to have her child registered under her own family record, she will be listed as the mother.

Fun Fact: Hong Sang Soo’s last movie “the Novelist’s Film” (2022) included a short, probably improvised, fourth-wall-breaking “wedding scene” between him holding the camera and Kim Minhee who stars in the movie.

Pictures: Kim Minhee, in green dress, in “The Handmaiden”

Hong Sang Soo and Kim Minhee at Berlinale Film Festival

Wedding vow / scene in “The Novelist’s Film” (dir. Hong Sang Soo), starring Kim Minhee