Lee Hyori Sponsoring Indian Slum Kids

As the summer monsoon rain pounded the streets of India's commercial and entertainment capital last week, singer Lee Hyori was not lost in reflections of her wealth and success, but on the similarities between this Korean sex symbol and a 16-year-old Indian girl she met in the slums of Mumbai the day before.

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"She reminded me of myself when I was young", said the 32-year-old celebrity, who grew up in poverty. "I lived in a small room next to my father's barber shop until I was in middle school, along with five of my family members. When it rained heavily, we all had to move to my relative's house, because our home would get submerged".

Singer Lee Hyori talks to a child in the slums of Mumbai, India.

For the past year, Lee has taken a break from her successful singing career to recharge. A lot of changes have happened during her break. She moved to a smaller house and sold her car and expensive handbags. She says she wanted to find something meaningful to do, not only for herself, but for others. As a result, she decided to sponsor 10 Korean and 10 foreign children through World Vision, an evangelical charity.

"I began to feel this sense of emptiness I was struggling with become filled with meaning", she said.

During her India trip, Lee broke down in tears one day while serving food to a group of children at an elementary school in Mumbai. She could not control herself after seeing one child, who was too poor to afford her own lunch box, borrow a lid from a friend to receive the meal being handed out by the charity group.

"I can't stop thinking the children I saw today", she said afterwards. "I want to present all 3,500 children at the school with some nice lunch boxes".

In Mumbai, Lee managed to transcend her pop diva status and find a new level of meaning -- as an ordinary woman with a heart of gold.