It's not easy being one of the "Bad Girls."

In a Friday television interview for the Seoul Broadcasting System program "Thank You," Queen of K-pop Lee Hyori broke down in tears when recalling her rebellious youth.

"I always did what I wanted to do, then I became a problem child," the singer said.

"It happened because I was dying my hair and dancing. I thought, 'Am I causing problems? Do I have problems?' and I came to the conclusion that there was a problem with society for wanting the same standards from everyone."

Lee believes it was her refusal to respect authority and conform to what was expected of her that drove her to work harder to become an artist.

"Even in society, everyone just does as the police and the advertisers say," the singer explained.

"But if I didn't like it, I would tell them no, I can't do it. Suddenly, people started saying bad things about me. They'd say I wouldn't succeed. But I worked hard. I wanted to succeed, too, so I worked hard. I figured everything would be good if I succeeded... I gave my everything to success and work."

But Lee's success didn't come easy.

"No one told me, 'it's okay if you rest. You're fine like this,'" said the star. "Everyone whipped me and told me to work harder. They told me I had to succeed, help my family, and help the neglected. I think in the end, I did succeed. I made a lot of money and ended up being famous, so I think I succeeded."

But achieving the success that she worked so hard for didn't make the "Bad Girls" singer happy.

"With the success, I became anxious and felt pressured," Lee said.

"I wanted to do better, and I always blamed myself for not being able to. Since I was thinking like that, when people said things like 'Why are you so bad?" and 'You're Korea's representative singer, but you can't sing live', it really hurt me."

But she said that taking time off also had its share of problems.

"I never thought about being happy when I was [an active performer], and just ran ahead looking at the future," Lee said.

"After my last album was swept in plagiarism controversies, three years just passed by...when I was busy, I didn't think [about my emotional outlook], but when I was resting, I thought to myself, 'Am I happy? I have a lot of money, but am I happy? I'm a famous singer, but am I truly happy?'"

When asked if she had any advise for aspiring artists, the singer offered encouragement.

"I [wish I could] tell everyone, 'You're perfectly fine right now'. No one told me that."

Check out the Lee Hyori music video "Bad Girls" RIGHT HERE