Lisa Confessed to Secret Relationships During BLACKPINK Days: Then a Photo of Her With a Childhood Friend Got Everyone Talking

Lisa did not bury the lede. In her upcoming documentary Always Lalisa, she says plainly that K-pop culture means a paparazzi photo of you dating someone can crater your popularity overnight, so she hid her relationships. "I had a few romances when I was younger, but I had to keep them secret," she said. "I didn't want my love life to be the reason BLACKPINK lost fans."

The film, directed by Sue Kim, premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival on the 11th. It opens in IMAX and theaters worldwide on October 12, with a YouTube Premium release also planned before the end of the year.

The song she wrote about it

Lisa went further than a general admission. She identified a specific track: "Dream," off her 2024 solo album Alter Ego, is autobiographical, written about one of those hidden relationships. The catch, she explained, was that the other person agreed to the song only on one condition: fans couldn't figure out who they were. So the lyrics were kept deliberately vague. The song was released. The secret held.

Rosé, for her part, has touched on similar pressures in past interviews, noting the real constraints female K-pop artists face when it comes to dating in public. Lisa's documentary puts the same reality on record in sharper, more personal terms.

The photo that landed at the wrong moment

Then, on the 5th, Thai influencer Pleum Natchakhun posted a photo on social media. In it, Lisa is wearing a vivid red outfit, grinning wide, arms around Pleum. Pleum's caption: "Hi, sawadika! I've been screaming since yesterday. This is incredible." He's laughing too, one arm loosely around her waist.

Pleum, who debuted in 2014 with Thai idol group V.R.P. before pivoting to acting and eventually founding Thai kitchenware brand Glammet, has known Lisa since they were ten years old. Both were part of the Bangkok dance crew We Zaa Cool before Lisa auditioned for YG Entertainment. By Pleum's own count, the friendship is over 14 years old.

The rest of the photos in Pleum's post showed a moody Bangkok bar and shots of the Grand Palace. Lisa doesn't appear in those, so how long the two actually spent together isn't clear.

Commenters were not subtle. "Are they dating?" "Is he her boyfriend?" "Wait, is this real?" The timing, coming days after Lisa's confession about secret relationships, did not go unnoticed. Whether there's anything to read into it is another question entirely, but the internet has already decided to read into it anyway.

Always Lalisa covers Lisa's full arc, from her days as a 14-year-old trainee through her solo career. The Toronto premiere runs during TIFF 2026, which goes from the 10th to the 20th.