19-year-old singer expelled from girl group after intimate photos with boyfriend leaked
The J-Pop girl group iLiFE! has been thrown into chaos after three of its members were embroiled in back-to-back scandals involving leaked private photos with their boyfriends—all within the span of a single week.
According to Yahoo Japan, iLiFE! debuted in 2020 with five members and currently consists of eight. The group is also part of HEROINES, a larger idol collective made up of multiple sub-groups. Just two days before iLiFE!’s scheduled concert at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan, 19-year-old Nara Nodoka was suddenly dismissed from the group.
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In an official statement, the management company announced that Nara was removed for “serious rule violations.” The decision came after private photos of Nara with a man believed to be her boyfriend were leaked online. She was also accused of badmouthing fellow members in private LINE chats.
Despite her dismissal, Nara was still allowed to perform in iLiFE!’s upcoming concert, explaining that her absence would “burden the other members.”
The scandal didn’t stop there. Just a day after Nara’s exit, management company imaginate announced the demotion of group leader Konoka Riri (26). According to the statement, Riri was stripped of her leadership role and given additional penalties for “inappropriate behavior.”
Though details weren’t provided, a viral video circulating on X (formerly Twitter) with over 20 million views appeared to show Riri kissing and cuddling a man. Riri later admitted she was the woman in the clip and issued an apology for “causing trouble to the group.”
Most recently, 17-year-old Wakaba Noa also faced scrutiny when old photos of her with an unidentified man—rumored to be a boyfriend—surfaced online. Noa quickly clarified that the photo was taken before her idol debut, confirming she had dated the man but ended the relationship to pursue her career.
She further explained that while she had exchanged a few friendly messages with her ex-boyfriend out of respect, she has not been romantically involved since becoming an idol.
“The photo being shared is from when I was in my second year of junior high. At that time, I broke up with him to follow the idol path. Since then, we haven’t seen each other. We occasionally exchanged messages as friends, but there were no romantic feelings,” Wakaba told fans.
In response, fans rallied in support of the three idols, while criticizing the entertainment industry’s strict no-dating rules imposed on young performers.
