Choi Jin-sil was a popular film and TV actress in South Korea, but she was found dead on Thursday as she seemingly hanged herself in her bathroom. The troubled actress was recently divorced from a Japanese baseball team star named Cho Sung-min, with whom she’d had two children. Her divorce was very messy and public, and Cho was even arrested at one point for attacking Choi.

Hours before she died she reportedly sent a text message to her personal assistant asking her to take care of her children.

She was also distressed over the suicide of another actor, Ahn Jae-hwan, who was a close friend of hers early this year, a friend that according to reports she had lent money to before they died. Rumours were abound that her pressure on the man to repay the loan led to his suicide, which she venomously denied.

The text messages Choi sent before she died stated:

Take care of my children no matter what happens.

I’m sorry.

Her mother stated that she returned home on Wednesday night and was drunk, and clearly upset about the rumours surrounding her dead friend.

In an ironic twist, Choi was currently starring a TV series in South Korea titled “The Last Scandal of My Life” – which was a series about a woman who went through a messy divorce.

Clive Bellmore