At the end of 2025, ME:I experienced a mass exodus, with four girls leaving the eleven member group. One of those girls, COCORO, has now sat down with Shukan Bunshun for a 140 minute interview detailing her time with the group, which includes several different forms of abuse by the group’s management company, LAPONE.
The interview came about after she created an Instagram account under her real name, through which Bunshun contacted her.
About her departure from ME:I, which was allegedly due to poor health, she said that she was in fact not ill. “I have never once said that I wanted to take time off. In fact, my agency lied to me and told me that I was ‘ill’. I have not been able to express my feelings in my own words until now, so I have decided to respond to this interview. I want to clear up the misunderstandings that have been spread by my agency and restore my human rights. Above all, I want to convey the truth to my worried fans.”
COCORO reported that ME:I was subjected to surprise weigh-ins, with the management also checking the group’s refrigerator and trash as a means of monitoring their diets.
Management was able to keep this element of surprise due to the fact that they had their own keys to the group’s dorm. Of this, she said, “Management would come in with their keys, and start doing inspections and checking our trash. I had experienced 3 years under a Korean management company, so I didn’t feel too bad about this, but there were other members who weren’t used to this, so I said to management to give us some privacy.”
COCORO also served as a go-between for ME:I and management. She would have to warn the members when issues occurred instead of management doing it themselves. She did this out of love for her fellow members, saying “The members are important to me, and I love them. That’s why I did it. I wanted them to have an environment that would make it easier for them to work. I tried to be careful with my words, but I wonder if management saw that as me going against them.”
Last February, she received a two hour lecture from management for protecting the ME:I members who received warnings.
The push for her to go on hiatus came after she was falsely accused of drinking alcohol. She said the accusation was baseless, but her defense fell on deaf ears. She then received more accusations, which caused her to worry about her relationship with management.
ME:I had barely any days off since their debut. On March 2, 2025, ME:I worked late into the night and then flew to South Korea early in the morning, with no sleep. During the night, the group was given sets of questions ahead of their appearance on several Korean shows. Management rushed the girls to answer the questions.
This event caused COCORO to question if she could continue this system of overwork, which resulted in her leaving the ME:I member and management group chat.
She wanted to leave the the chat temporarily as a protest to the group’s working conditions, but management too this as sign of a mental health issue, and encouraged her to seek help. She had a 30 minute appointment with one clinic, and then a 15 minute one with another. She was then told by management that the doctors had cleared her to return to work.
She went to clinic X for a 30-minute consultation and clinic Y for a 15-minute consultation. After her consultation with clinic Y, she received a message from the managers, “The doctors said it’s okay for you to continue working.”
Things took a turn on March 24 though, when, in a talk the the president of LAPONE, management revealed a shocking diagnosis for COCORO: Borderline Personality Disorder.
Management told both her and her mother that both doctors at the clinics had diagnosed her with the illness, adding that she should go on hiatus for treatment so that she could return to work. COCORO was in disbelief at her shocking diagnosis. Looking back on that time, she said, “Honestly, even though I had some concerns about my relationship with management, I didn’t feel down mentally. I’d never thought of separating from the group. I even told the doctors I want to continue working.”
On March 28, her mother received an email from LAPONE that they would be announcing her hiatus the next day. When they asked for more information, they just received the text of the coming announcement. Of this, COCORO said, “I didn’t agree with the content of the announcement. They said I was sick, but I hadn’t even caught a cold or anything. My priority at the time was to come back to the group, so I accepted it. I was told to take a rest and I could only comply with that.”
During her hiatus, she returned home to Nagoya, and visited Tokyo weekly to receive treatment, all the while wondering what went wrong.
Even during his hiatus, she received messages from management. On April 8, she received a message that read, “Do you want to participate in the merch for October? Please reply within 6 hours. If you don’t reply, we’ll consider you not participating.” Despite her showing interest in participating, in the end she wasn’t included in the merch release.
Questioning her diagnosis, COCORO say a doctor in Nagoya for a second opinion. Upon telling the doctor that she was diagnosed with BPD, the doctor said that that was not possible, as the condition can not be diagnosed in such a short period of time. She then ventured to the second clinic that diagnosed her. Questioning the doctor there, she was told that the doctor had never given her that diagnosis and she was never recommended to go on break. In fact, the doctor’s notes read that she was in good health.
COCORO inquired more about her diagnosis with the help of an attorney, and it was found that LAPONE had lied. Before her two initial clinic visits, management spoke to the clinic and reported false observations of COCORO’s behavior, such as “she goes crazy and runs outside”, “she cries and screaming”, and “she held a knife and screamed that she wanted to die.” Management also asked that this information not be revealed to COCORO or her guardian by the clinic.
“It appears that the doctor told management that these actions might be symptoms of BPD. However, after speaking to the doctor, the doctor said it was a possibility, not a diagnosis for COCORO,” her attorney said.
COCORO returned to the dorm in July, in anticipation of her hiatus ending.
