Actor Sa Mi-ja opens up about 35-year bond with daughter-in-law: 'Kind-hearted, but sometimes so cold'

Actor Sa Mi-ja has shared candid feelings — a mix of affection and occasional frustration — about her eldest daughter-in-law, Yoo Ji-yeon, who joined the family 35 years ago.

A video titled "Daughter-in-law's first appearance! The daughter-in-law who hasn't changed in 35 years" was posted to Sa's YouTube channel Friday. Yoo has been Sa's eldest daughter-in-law for 35 years and has lived under the same roof as Sa for the past 13 years.

Sa spoke candidly about her mixed feelings toward Yoo, saying, "Some people say my daughter-in-law is so lovely, while others say she speaks too presumptuously."

"Her heart couldn't be kinder," Sa said, "but sometimes she can be so cold that I think, 'How can someone be so heartless?'"

She added with a laugh, "After 35 years together, whenever I eat something delicious I think of her and want to buy it for her — but when she eats something delicious, she thinks of her own mother."

Yoo offered her own perspective in response. "People of my mother-in-law's generation all take her side, while people around me understand mine," she said. "It's just the way I look and speak — those who really know me understand."

Behind Sa's blunt remarks lay genuine affection. Sa said Yoo never misses her birthday or any anniversary and personally prepares the food for chuseok, adding, "Those things are what soften my heart."

Yoo, for her part, said, "My mother-in-law only talks that way — I know the warmth in her heart. Because we understand each other, we've gotten along without any major problems." Asked which moment she had been most grateful to her mother-in-law for, Yoo replied, "It's not any one moment — I'm always grateful. She has been a solid support for me, both financially and emotionally," visibly pleasing Sa.

Meanwhile, Yoo is well known for having cared for both her husband and Sa simultaneously for roughly two years when her husband's battle with cancer and Sa's stroke overlapped. At the time, her husband and mother-in-law were hospitalized on different floors of the same hospital, and Yoo moved back and forth between the two rooms to nurse them both.