Singer of the South Korean pop rock band F.T. Island Lee Hong Ki, opened up about the price of fame on the Seoul Broadcasting System Power FM radio show "Choi Hwa Jung's Power Time" on Tuesday.

The star said he has had to end several relationships because in his pursuit of musical fame.

"Up until now, I think I've had to say three passionate goodbyes [to girlfriends]," Lee said.

"What I mean by passionate goodbye is that I didn't want to break up, but there was nothing else I could do. Because I was a celebrity, I had no other choice."

The F.T. Island singer said he almost gave up being a singer because he was so heartbroken over a former girlfriend.

"I dated my first love during my [K-pop] trainee years," Lee said.

"Since I wasn't able to go back home as often, our hearts grew distant. That [girl] asked that we stop seeing each other."

The star said he almost couldn't bear to continue with his music career after the breakup.

"I cried like crazy and told her I couldn't do it," Lee recalled of the painful time.

"I cried so much, I was in a state of exhaustion. I kept telling my manager that I wouldn't become a singer, so he tried to dissuade me from walking away from it altogether."

Host Choi Hwa Jung pointed out that the situation must have also been tense for the chief executive at Lee Hong Ki's record label.

"Your agency's CEO must have been really distressed at that time," Choi said.

Lee admitted she was right.

"Because of me, I'm sure he's had to go through a lot," the singer said.

Last week, Lee discussed another career low-point on the South Korean television program, "Radio Star," an incident back in 2008, when he was forced to perform at an awards ceremony on a day when his voice wasn't up to the task.

"Our manager said, Hong Ki is sick, and asked if we could perform with [a pre-recorded track], but the broadcast staff said 'no, it must be live," the F.T. Island singer recalled.

"I went to the hospital, but I wasn't getting better. So, in the end, I went up on stage, and [my voice] wouldn't work...because it wouldn't work, I was offbeat, flat, off-tune. I was going crazy. It was so hard."

Lee says the performance continues to haunt him, as talk show hosts love to replay the popular viral video of the singer's throat troubles.

But not all memories of that day are unpleasant for the F.T. Island frontman, who recalled some of the older K-pop performers at the awards show being extremely supportive.

"The Super Junior members were one of the first to do so," Lee said.

"Kangin Hyung said 'Hong Gi, are you feeling better? You were the best on that stage yesterday.' Those words were really comforting."

Check out the video of Lee Hong Ki on MBC's "Radio Star" RIGHT HERE
(In Korean)