- [Ashley] I was just crying every day.
So I started to reach out to friends and actually,
I attended church every week.
And then there, I met Rosé.
Like Rosé from BLACKPINK.
- [Eric] In terms of… You know…
Coming back from that. You know…
How did you cope?
Like I think for a lot of people it’s unimaginable pain and loss and stuff but…
It’s hard for people to bounce back from that.
I think the strength that you guys had as a unit and individually even…
You know, seeing what you guys are doing now.
It takes a lot of courage. And it takes a lot of strength.
What was it that kind of…
Kept you going and picked you back up?
Was there a good ecosystem or people you spoke to?
Or certain things that you walked yourself in getting back on your feet?
- [Ashley] I think in the very beginning…
It was hard because I didn’t have a lot of friends back then.
Like within the community.
I didn’t have a lot of friends to rely on or talk to because
we didn’t have any freedom back then.
So of course, I couldn’t make any friends.
We didn’t even have our cell phones and stuff.
During that time, I decided to go out and meet people a little more.
Because if I was staying home all day…
Like I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
And I was just crying every day.
So I started to reach out to friends and actually,
I attended church every week.
And then there, I met Rosé.
Like Rosé from BLACKPINK.
We happened to sit next to each other by chance.
And there was a time before the sermon when the pastor was like,
“Oh it’s a time of fellowship. Talk to the person next to you.”
So we started talking and of course, at first she lied to me.
She was like, “Oh I’m here studying guitar from Australia.”
And me too. I didn’t think she would know who I was…
So I was like, “Oh I’m just here like teaching English.”
But then we hit it off and we…
Our conversation flowed very like smoothly.
So after church service we were like,
“Hey you want to go get like jajangmyeon?”
And she was like, “Yeah!”
And then that’s when we started talking and got honest.
And she told me she didn’t have any friends in Korea.
I told her I don’t really have any friends.
So… we started like getting really close and hanging out every weekend.
And for me, meeting her at that time was really big and
it was a huge support because I didn’t have anyone to talk to about… stuff like that.
And she was also from another country.
And came here to train and was preparing to debut.
I was also from another country so we had a lot to talk to each other about.
And we related to each other.
So it was like that and then you know, reaching out a little more.
And then like meeting other friends.
It slowly got better.
So I think having that group of people around me…
Having friends that…
You know supported me. And loved me.
I think that really helped.
- [Eric] I actually ran into her the other day.
- [Ashley] Where?
- [Eric] At like an event.
But everybody has their masks on. Right?
So I want to be like, “Hi.”
But then I was like, “No this is gonna be weird.”
So I just like shut up and I was like, “Okay bye.”
- [Ashley] Why! She’s so friendly. You should’ve said hi.
- [Eric] I don’t know. I was too intimidated.
- [Ashley] Ohh. Noo.
- [Eric] Also there were a lot of celebrities around and like…
I was like… I feel like an imposter.
You know what I mean? Am I allowed to be here?
Like I don’t know if I’m supposed to be here.
It was just like a lot of actors and singers and like…
It felt like a who’s who of certain group of people.
But I was like, “Why am I here?”
- [Ashley] What do you mean?
- [Eric] And Diane went with me too. And I was like— And we left.
I was like, “Okay. That was fun role playing celebrity.
I’m glad we’re done.”
And Diane was like, “I’m going home! Bye.”
- [Ashley] Dudeee.
Do you know how much the Korean general public likes you?
- [Eric] Okay but… I don’t know.
I feel like I’m so removed from that right now.
Like I feel like all I do is, I sit in this room and I podcast.
- [Ashley] No but you will forever be like the Eric Nam.
- [Eric] Thank you. But I don’t know.
But we’ll see. But it was just—
I was like, “Oh my gosh. Dang. It’s a celebrity.
Dang. That’s an actor.”
I was like, “That was… Rosé.”
- [Ashley] You should’ve said hi.
- [Eric] I don’t know.
Maybe next time if we happen to naturally run into each other.
You could be like, “This is this person named Eric.”
- [Ashley] Yeah. No I’m sure she knows who you are.
But she would’ve been like, “Oh my god. Hi!”
- [Eric] I don’t know it was—
Well everybody has their masks on right?
And we were coming down the stairs.
And there were like other people that I already know.
Where I’d be like, “Hyung. Noona. Hello~”
And they’re like, “Who are you?”
I was like, “It’s Eric.” And they’re like, “Ohhh!”
When she walked in, and she looked like very like…
Like kind of frazzled.
Like I just want to get upstairs and kind of…
- [Ashley] Rosé? - [Eric] Yeah yeah.
So I didn’t want to be like…
- [Ashley] Was she by herself.
- [Eric] She was with somebody else.
But Rosé just kind of kept looking at the ground.
I was like, "Okay. I'm gonna leave."
But she seems wondeful.
- [Ashley] No, she is.