Weeks after allegedly assaulting a nurse, Japanese actress Ryoko Hirosue has announced that she will be suspending all entertainment activities to focus on her health issues.
An official site for the 44-year-old star posted a notice on May 2 explaining that Hirosue has been receiving treatment at a hospital in Tokyo after she was released from police custody on April 16.
She was arrested on April 8 for allegedly attacking a nurse at a hospital where she was taken to following a car accident.
The notice, put up by Hirosue’s self-founded agency R.H., said she has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental health condition characterised by extreme mood swings, and hyperthyroidism, a condition that can lead to unintended weight loss and heart palpitations.
“We deeply regret how both Hirosue herself and the people around her dismissed her illness and suffering as simply ‘poor health’. Hirosue will now take a break from all entertainment activities and focus on recovering her mental and physical health for the time being,” the agency said.
It added that the disclosure of Hirosue’s illness is not to escape accountability for her legal troubles. The agency also said: “We will continue to sincerely cooperate with the police in all their investigations.”
Hirosue’s suspension comes after a string of bad press for the star, who rose to fame in the 1990s with TV series such as Beach Boys (1997) and Sekai De Ichiban Papa Ga Suki (I Love My Dad More Than Anything In The World, 1998). She has also starred in films like the Oscar-winning Departures (2008).
Aside from the alleged assault, Hirosue was exposed in June 2023 by Japanese tabloids for an extramarital affair with Japanese chef Shusaku Toba, 46. She announced her divorce from her husband, Japanese candle artist Jun Izutsu, 51, a month later.
Hirosue and Izutsu have a son, 14, and a daughter, nine. She also has a 21-year-old son from her first marriage to Japanese designer Takahiro Okazawa, 49.
The scandal caused her then-agency Flamme, which had represented her for 25 years, to suspend her activities indefinitely. They parted ways in February 2024 and she set up her own agency R.H. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
