Jang Yun-jung Has One Diet Rule at 57 — And It Lets Her Drink Three Times a Week

Jang Yun-jung, one of South Korea's most enduring pop stars, has a physique that prompts regular compliments and occasional curiosity about how she maintains it. At 57, she still carries the energy and physical presence of someone considerably younger. On a recent episode of the YouTube channel DallaStudio's popular negotiation series, she explained her approach — and it turns out to involve considerably less restriction than most people might expect.

The short version: she cuts carbohydrates. That's essentially it. The long version is a little more interesting, because the reason she cuts carbohydrates is partly to offset the fact that she and her husband drink alcohol approximately three times a week.

The Practical Logic Behind the Rule

Jang Yun-jung appeared on a Negoking (네고왕) segment organized around a protein shake brand, which put her in the position of discussing nutrition and diet in some detail. She was straightforward about her approach. She does not follow a structured diet program. She does not obsessively count calories or eliminate entire food groups. She does not, she noted with some candor, particularly like protein shakes — describing them as not to her taste and not compatible with the way she prefers to live.

What she does is watch her carbohydrate intake. Her reasoning is practical rather than ideological: when she and her husband enjoy drinks together — which happens roughly three times a week — those calories need to come from somewhere. Alcohol carries its own caloric load, and since eliminating the drinking is apparently not on the agenda, the compromise is moderating the carbohydrates elsewhere in her diet.

When she notices that she has gained weight, she adds exercise. When things feel balanced, she maintains the status quo. It is a system built around a realistic assessment of what she is actually willing to do in the long term rather than what she might theoretically manage for a few weeks before reverting to normal habits.

"I don't really manage myself in a structured way," she explained on the program. "I just reduce carbohydrates." For a celebrity in an industry that tends to reward elaborate-sounding wellness routines, there is something quietly refreshing about the simplicity of this answer.

Husband's Clarification

After the episode generated some attention — and some concern from fans who interpreted certain details to suggest the couple drank every day — her husband Do Kyung-wan addressed the situation on his own YouTube channel. He clarified that the three-times-a-week figure refers to occasions when both of them drink together, not daily consumption, and noted that they had both recently received clean health check results with no issues related to their liver or digestive system.

Do Kyung-wan is himself a public figure — a television host and entertainer who has appeared across a range of programs for years. The couple married in 2013 and have two children. Their relationship, which has been a fixture of Korean entertainment news since before their marriage, is notable for the degree of openness both parties bring to discussing ordinary domestic life in public contexts.

A Career That Has Spanned Decades

Jang Yun-jung occupies a particular place in Korean popular music. She broke through in the trot genre — a style of Korean popular music with roots in the early-to-mid 20th century that has experienced significant revivals in more recent years — and became one of its defining voices. Her appeal has always bridged generations, combining the accessibility of a style that older Korean audiences grew up with and the commercial instincts to keep herself relevant as the entertainment landscape shifted around her.

More recently, she has been active on the variety show circuit, appearing as a guest and regular contributor across multiple programs. She is currently participating in her show's eighth negotiation segment as the latest Negotiation King (협상왕), which has kept her in regular public view beyond her music career. The negotiation format — in which she literally negotiates deals on behalf of viewers with brands and products — suits her public persona well, playing to an image of someone who is confident, direct, and lightly self-aware about her own celebrity status.

The 120 Billion Won Apartment

The Baekban Gigan appearance was not Jang Yun-jung's only recent topic of public conversation. The couple also made news for purchasing a penthouse in Seoul's Yongsan district — a transaction reportedly valued at approximately 12 billion Korean won, or roughly nine million US dollars, paid in cash. The purchase generated significant attention partly because of the price point and partly because of the manner of acquisition: paying cash for an apartment at that level is unusual enough to become a news item in its own right.

The combination of the penthouse news and the diet discussion paints a picture of a career that has been genuinely successful at the level that matters most in the long run: durable relevance and financial security maintained across decades without a single defining peak moment but through steady, reliable presence in Korean entertainment culture.

What the Conversation Actually Reveals

The reason the diet discussion resonated with Korean audiences — beyond the genuine curiosity about how a 57-year-old entertainer maintains her physical condition — is probably the accessibility of the answer itself. Most celebrity wellness advice, whether intentionally or not, implicitly relies on conditions that ordinary people do not have: personal trainers, precise meal preparation, schedules organized around optimal recovery time.

Jang Yun-jung's answer assumes none of this. It assumes a person with a normal social life that includes drinking with a spouse, a preference for not doing things they find unpleasant, and a willingness to make simple, sustainable tradeoffs. The logic is comprehensible to anyone. Cut some carbohydrates. Add some exercise if things shift. Continue living your life.

It is possible, of course, that the full picture is more complicated than this brief version suggests, and that years of professional performance discipline contribute in ways that are harder to summarize on a variety show. But the willingness to give a real and usable answer rather than an aspirational one is, in itself, the kind of honesty that tends to make people like you.