Robert Holley denies gay rumors, opens up about drug scandal and recovery
TV personality Robert Holley, previously embroiled in a drug use controversy, speaks during a YouTube appearance. Screenshot from YouTube
TV personality Robert Holley publicly denied longstanding rumors about his sexual orientation during a recent YouTube appearance in which he also spoke candidly about his past drug scandal and health struggles.
In a video released on singer Hyun Jin-young’s YouTube channel on Friday, Holley and Hyun revisited the beginnings of their friendship, which formed in the aftermath of Holley’s drug-related arrest in 2019.
“When someone reaches out to you and talks to you, it really gives you strength. I’ve been through something like that myself,” said Hyun.
Holley recalled the loneliness he experienced following the incident. “After everything happened, there was no one left around me. I just kept wanting to die. I felt like I had no one to turn to,” he said. “But being able to talk to young people through my work on anti-drug campaigns gave me a new sense of purpose.”
Holley, who faced a hiatus from the public eye, has since returned to active broadcasting. “My wife tells me to stop talking about all this,” he said lightheartedly, prompting laughter.
The 65-year-old also spoke about a serious health scare during his time away from television. “I developed peripheral neuropathy. My third and sixth cranial nerves were paralyzed,” he said.
He underwent steroid treatment and spinal surgery after inflammation and a tumor were found in his legs. “I was hospitalized for three months. I couldn’t even walk at one point, but my eyesight has recovered now,” he said.
Holley expressed gratitude to fellow entertainers including Kim Heung-gook, Sayuri, Hyun Jin-young, Choi Yang-rak and Paeng Hyun-sook. “They called me constantly, wrote letters of petition for me and really supported me. Sayuri and I are in the same agency, and I became close with Choi through his radio show.”
Addressing a longstanding rumor, Holley said, “I’m not gay. It’s absurd.” He explained that at the time of his drug arrest, he chose not to respond to the rumors because he feared it would be perceived as making excuses. “All I could say was ‘I’m sorry,’” he said.
Holley, who became a naturalized Korean citizen in 1997, married his wife Myung Hyun-sook in 1988 and became a beloved TV personality in Korea for his fluent Korean and folksy charm.
In 2019, he was sentenced to one year in prison with a two-year suspended sentence for methamphetamine use. He returned to television last year through the MBN reality show “A Decision to Divorce.”
Since his return, Holley has actively spoken out against drug use.
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.