IU revealed that she went through many hardships until right after she made her debut.

She spoke about the difficult times she'd been through on the KBS 2TV program "Seung Seung Jang Goo".

She said, "We were well-off when I was in elementary school. Then one day my mother, who was always helpful to others, co-signed on a bad debt and we all had to sit out on the streets".

She continued, "I saw my parents fight and I saw red reposession stickers all over the house. We all had to split up, my parents too. So I had to live with my cousins and my grandmother". She lived in a single room.

"The room was really cold and there were a lot of cockroaches. I can take care of them with my own hands now. My grandmother was a vendor in the market selling hair pins and ties". About a year after living like this she could be with her parents again. She met them a little after she made her debut.

IU also said, "My father once hugged me and cried after fighting with mother. I disliked my mom for making my father cry. So I fought with her and we naturally grew apart. I am very sorry for what I did now that I think about it". Now the debts have all been paid off by her mother, without IU's help.