An Sun-young reveals she paid off mother's W100m debt — and never received a thank-you

Broadcaster An Sun-young has opened up about paying off her mother's debt of 100 million won ($73,600) — and never being thanked for it.

The story emerged Thursday, when An posted a video to her YouTube channel titled "Caution: Anger — 'I don't have a good relationship with my daughter … ' Reading a story about mother-daughter conflict [Advice Column, Episode 1]."

In the video, An read out a viewer's story about a mother-daughter rift and offered candid advice.

"When it comes to mother-daughter conflict, I consider myself in the top 0.01 percent in South Korea," An said. "My mother raised me alone as her only child, and we spent our whole lives together — the good days and the sad ones."

The viewer's story centered on a woman who had spent her entire life being passed over in favor of her older brother.

Growing up, she was told "He's your oppa, after all" whenever she raised a grievance. She also said she had to give up on going to college after her mother told her, "You're a girl, so you don't need a degree — your brother is a man, so he has to go."

Even in adulthood, the brother — now 50 — continued to rely on their mother financially through failed business ventures and gambling. Most recently, he asked the viewer's husband for 20 million won. The viewer said she confronted her mother, asking whether her husband was supposed to work just to clean up her brother's messes, and said she wanted to cut ties with both of them.

An responded bluntly. "What makes family so cruel is that they can make the same mistake ten, a hundred, a thousand times — mistakes they would never make with a stranger — and feel neither sorry nor grateful," she said. "Cut them off as soon as possible. What are you waiting for? You'll destroy yourself." She then shared her own experience: "I paid off more than 100 million won of my mother's debt, and she never once said thank you."

An recalled that her mother had borrowed money from neighbors without telling her. "I gave her my credit card to use, and while I was in the middle of filming, 5 million won was suddenly withdrawn," she said.

"I thought she had lost the card, so I reported it. Then I got a call — 'I took it. Cancel the report immediately,'" An said. "I was completely devastated. I cried so much. I had not eaten a single meal and was in the middle of filming, and the hurt was far worse than if a stranger had stolen the money."

An said what wounded her most was not the act itself but the attitude behind it. "If she had just explained the situation and said, 'I actually had more debt you did not know about — I'm so sorry, could you please help me with this too?' — that would not have been a scar," she said. "But the way she acted like it was only natural — that is what hurt so deeply."

She closed with a firm principle: "Of course, she gave birth to me and raised me — that is true. But she has no right to claim a single won of anything I have earned as an adult."

Meanwhile, An has been caring for her mother, who has been living with dementia for eight years.