Winter Sonata actress Choi Ji-woo gives birth to baby girl at 44

South Korean actress Choi Ji-woo has given birth to her first child on Saturday (May 16), according to her agency YG Entertainment.

YG Entertainment said in a statement that the actress, who turns 45 in June, gave birth to her daughter at a hospital in Seoul. Mother and child are both fine.

The statement did not mention details like the baby’s name and weight.

Earlier this month, Choi, who shot to fame after starring in the romantic TV serial Winter Sonata (2002) with Bae Yong-joon, had posted on her fan club website a handwritten letter and recent photo of herself with a baby bump.

She wrote that she has found a greater respect for all mothers since her pregnancy, especially as she got pregnant at an older age and during the coronavirus pandemic. She also hopes to be a role model for women who become mothers later in life.

Known for her roles in many TV series, including Stairway To Heaven (2003) and Temptation (2014), Choi surprised her fans in March 2018 when she announced her marriage to her boyfriend, who is nine years younger than her and the owner of an information technology firm.

Her agency did not say when Choi would return to acting. Earlier this year, the actress made a cameo, playing herself meeting a North Korean fan in the popular series Crash Landing On You.

The 41-year-old actress and model gave birth to son earlier this year in January. This is her second child with Chinese rock musician Wang Feng after tying the knot in 2015. She gave birth to her first child, Wang Xingxing, in December 2015.

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Iconic Korean actress Lee Young-ae gave birth to twins 9 years ago when she was 40. She’s known for her appearances in thriller film Sympathy for Lady Vengeance and historical television series Saimdang, Memoir of Colours.

This 65-year-old Taiwanese actress was the talk of the town decades ago when she starred in numerous films and television shows such as Love Massacre (1981) and Peking Opera Blues (1986).

In 1994, she married Chinese businessman Michael Ying and gave birth to her first child at 42 years of age. She became pregnant again in 2001 and gave birth to her second daughter at 47.

She’s pictured here with her second daughter at at formal dinner.

This popular Japanese singer announced in January 2020 that she “gave birth to a beautiful angel last year” after keeping her pregnancy a secret. Speculations made suggest that she gave birth to a boy in November 2019, when she was 40.

Fann Wong, 44, gave birth to her first child, baby Zed, in 2014.

Halle Berry became pregnant for the first time at 41 years old and gave birth to her daughter, Nahla.

Singer Gwen Stefani gave birth to her third son at 45, in 2014.

Movie star Eva Mendes, 41, and Canadian boyfriend Ryan Gosling welcomed their first child in September 2015.

In 2002, at the age of 41, Hollywood actress Julianne Moore gave birth to her second child, a daughter.

Uma Thurman gave birth to her third child, a daughter, when she was 42 in 2012.

Actress Salma Hayek told Oprah she waited until she was 41 to have her daughter in order to “relax into being a mother.”

Tina Fey welcomed her second child almost a decade ago in 2011, with husband Jeff Richmond, when she was 41.

Game of Thrones star Lena Heady was 42 when she gave birth to her second child in July 2015.

The iconic singer welcomed two bundles of joy at 42, when she gave birth to twins after multiple IVF sessions.

Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman gave birth to her daughter at age 40 in 2008, in what she described as a “roller coaster ride with fertility”.

Singer Mariah Carey gave birth to twins at age 40, after a 47-week-long pregnancy. Her then-husband Nick Cannon celebrated by giving her a US$12,000 pink diamond and sapphire necklace, engraved with the twins’ names.

Not much is known about famously private Meryl Streep’s personal life, but it is known that she gave birth to her fourth child in 1991, when she was 41.

Doctors told actress Susan Sarandon she’d never have children due to a medical condition, but she gave birth to two sons when she was 42 and 45.

Before she adopted her son David in 2006, Madonna gave birth to her first child at age 41, together with her (then) husband Guy Ritchie.

A portion of this article was originally published on The Straits Times and AsiaOne.

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