It's no secret that aurelia has been through a lot during her 10 years of training under SM. But she rarely talks about the details, so here are some moments when Aurelia talked about her struggles as a trainee in SM.
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I (interviewer) - were there any obstacles that you had to overcome as a trainee?
A (Aurelia) - I think when you're a trainee under a company, you obviously going to go through a lot of obstacles. But one hard obstacle that I had to over come was when I got pulled out of the line up of Red Velvet. Okay, so let me explain the whole story *laughs*
I - okay
A - So in 2013,me and Yeri were added into the lineup of Red Velvet. I was so happy because you know, after 3 years of hard work, the goal that you have been working hard for, is finally approaching. And in 2014, before the debut of Red Velvet, I suddenly got pulled out of the line up.
I - Do you know why?
A - No, I didn't know why and that effected me for the next 6 years of training. Till' this day, I still don't know why I got pulled out.
2
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A - I hated the way I looked when I was a trainee. So, I started to basically starve myself thinking it was okay when I was just 12 years old. And whenever I gained or lose weight, I felt so uncomfortable. I just didn't know what to do with my body anymore. And that also effected my dancing and singing skills. My moves became less sharp and I had trouble hitting high notes that I could do before, and because of all of that, I got scolded a lot.
3
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A - In like my 7th year of training, I questioned if I should leave SM. I thought SM had no plans for me and I would just end up wasting half of my life under a system that is like hell. But luckily, I pushed away those thoughts and look at me now!
4
H (host) - it says here that you were named a "crybaby" because you cried a lot during your trainee days.
A (Aurelia) - yeah, I think it was when I was 12 years old where I almost cried every night because I was really stressed and felt alone. And you know, when you're a kid, you don't know how to handle things when you're stressed. Or maybe that was just me *laughs*.
5
S (staff) : did you miss your family when you were training?
A - well of course. Like, I never really got to grow up with my family. So when I had free time, I would imagine what I would be doing with my parents and siblings. And mostly on my birthdays! I would imagine how I would be blowing my candles with my parents filming me and my siblings wiping frost on my face.
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voice over
A - the training system in SM was like really hard. It didn't even feel as if you were a human anymore. Like if you had school, you would automatically go to the practice room rather than hanging out with your friends. And if you didn't have to go to school, you had to dance, sing, and rap for 12 hours, maybe even more, with little to no breaks. And if you were "chubby" you were forced to lose the weight.
A - If you had mental illnesses, they won't care. But again, they treated you as if you were robots that could do anything in the world. And because of that, I developed depression and body dysphoria.
