Idol

K-pop idol Cherry has come out as a trans woman.

The music talent, also known as Chae Ryujin, announced the exciting news on Instagram Live.

“This isn’t a hobby, it’s my life. I’m trans. Because I wasn’t an ordinary person, I couldn’t reveal everything from the start. My goal was to take it slow. I’m just going with my goal,” she revealed.

Cherry first made waves in the K-pop sphere when she appeared in the 2016 reality TV series “Boy24,” which featured a group of young hopefuls competing for a spot in the titular band.

While she didn’t make the group, it didn’t stop her from becoming a fan favourite. In 2022, Cherry joined the new K-pop group JWiiver, which released one mini-album, JTrap, before disbanding in 2024.

Since sharing the heartwarming news, the beloved talent has been showered with supportive messages from fans on social media.

“As someone who has been following Ryujin forever now I couldn’t be more proud… she’s so brave,” one person on X/Twitter wrote.

Another fan on Reddit echoed similar sentiments, writing: “Omg ryujin, i’m so happy for her!! I’ve followed her since jwiiver and she seems so much happier now. I’m so glad she feels comfortable in her identity!”

A third social media user commented: “Trans rep in kpop. She’s so beautiful, you go girl!”

In response to the overwhelming support, Cherry took to Instagram on 21 July to deliver a heartfelt message to her fans.

🍒 This isn’t a hobby this is just my life…
🍒 I’m trans pic.twitter.com/VUuOPctDd9

— ryujin folder 🏳️‍⚧️ (@ryujin_folder) July 19, 2025

“Hello, I’m Chae Ryujin. In recent days, a lot of international fans. Thank you for your support and love. I read a lot of DMs with appreciation. I’m sorry I couldn’t reply to you one by one,” she wrote.

“I’ll live my second life happier. I would appreciate it if you continue to love and support us. I’ll do my best on YouTube, so please subscribe to my YouTube channel”

Cherry joins a growing number of K-pop idols who have come out as part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Back in April, JUST B member Bain revealed that he was gay during the Los Angeles stop of the band’s Just Odd World Tour.

Halfway through the concert, the beloved singer – whose real name is Song Byeong-hee – announced that he was “f**king proud to be part of the LGBTQ+ community,” resulting in thunderous applause from the audience.

Bain then performed a cover of Lady Gaga’s iconic LGBTQIA+ anthem, ‘Born This Way,’ while enthusiastically waving a rainbow flag.

Global girl group KATSEYE also made headlines when two of their members came out as part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

In March, Lara Raj confirmed that she was queer while on Weverse, an app that focuses on the interaction between fans and their favourite music artists.

“I knew I was half a fruitcake when I was like eight. So I really was wanting everybody,” she wrote. “Honestly, before eight. Isn’t fruitcake such a good way to explain it without saying it?”

A few months later, Lara’s bandmate Megan Skiendiel came out as bisexual while celebrating Pride Month with the former during a Weverse livestream.

“Should I do it? Guys, I’m coming out, I’m bisexual,” the young singer said after some light encouragement from Lara.

If you’re looking for more LGBTQIA+ celebrities who have come out in 2025, click here.

July 22 (UPI) — Suspect Raymond Boodarian allegedly used a firearm owned by victims Robin Kaye and Thomas Deluca to shoot and kill the couple inside their Encino, Calif., home on July 10.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman on Monday night said Boodarian, 22, used a gun owned by Kaye and Deluca to shoot and kill the couple and then called the police.

“Mr. Boodarian got caught because he used his cell phone to contact police concerning the situation [and] actually identified himself by name,” Hochman told attendees during a special meeting of the Encino Neighborhood Council.

“Police were able to ping the cell phone, find out where he lived, go to his residence and arrest him.”

Hochman said police found the gun used to kill the couple at the crime scene.

“The gun that was actually used in the murders wasn’t [Boodarian’s] gun,” Hochman told meeting attendees.

“It was a gun that he recovered from the actual house,” he added. “It was Robin’s and Tom’s gun.”

More than 100 Encino residents attended an Encino Neighborhood Council meeting to discuss the matter on Monday night, which Hochman addressed.

The residents were concerned that Boodarian was released from jail last year despite being suspected of battery, making threats and brandishing a weapon, ENC President Josh Sautter told NBC News.

A judge dismissed the case following a mental health evaluation of Boodarian.

Kaye and Deluca, both age 70, returned home on the evening of July 10 while Boodarian allegedly was inside to burglarize it, Hochman said.

Local police discovered the victims’ bodies while conducting a welfare check four days later on July 14.

Los Angeles Police arrested Boodarian on July 15 and said he is an Encino resident.

Boodarian is charged with two counts of murder during a robbery, one count of burglary, intentional use of a firearm and committing multiple murders.

He is being held without bail and has an arraignment hearing scheduled on Aug. 20 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, during which he could enter a plea.

Kaye was a music supervisor on the popular “American Idol” television show, and Deluca was a musician.

A 22-year-old man was charged Thursday with killing an “American Idol” music supervisor and her musician husband who walked into their Encino home during a burglary.

Raymond Boodarian is accused of fatally shooting Robin Kaye and her husband, Tom DeLuca, on July 10. Los Angeles police did not find their bodies until four days later, when officers were sent to the home for a welfare check.

Boodarian is charged with two counts of murder with enhancements for allegedly killing the couple during the commission of a robbery, intentionally using a firearm, and committing multiple murders. He is also charged with burglary.

During an initial court appearance in Van Nuys on Thursday afternoon, Boodarian was ordered to remain in jail. His arraignment was delayed until Aug. 20.

If convicted, Boodarian would face either life without parole or execution if prosecutors seek the death penalty.

According to police, officers visited the Encino home around the time Boodarian was believed to be inside.

The Los Angeles Police Department responded to a report of a possible break-in at 4 p.m. July 10 and determined that nothing appeared out of place at the couple’s residence, Lt. Guy Golan said.

Officers reported that the property was locked and no one responded inside, while a police helicopter from overhead reported not seeing anything suspicious.

Kaye and DeLuca’s bodies were discovered Monday when officers responded to a welfare check at the couple’s homes in the 4700 block of White Oak Avenue. The following day, officers with a joint LAPD-FBI task force arrested Boodarian.

According to police, Kaye, an “American Idol” music supervisor and her rock musician husband, DeLuca, were returning to their $4.5-million Encino home when they came upon Booderian.

Booderian allegedly shot Kaye and DeLuca multiple times then ran off, locking the door behind him. Though the couple’s house was well fortified, police said, the suspect had managed to get in through an unlocked door.

According to Golan, the department received a call at 4 p.m. the day the couple was killed and the caller described seeing a person climbing over a fence into the property. Golan said officers went to the home, but did not get any response and saw nothing out of place, and a helicopter was flown over the property because it was difficult to access.

By then, the couple had been killed, LAPD officials said. Boodarian left after about half an hour, police said.

The delay in finding Kaye and DeLuca’s bodies bore similarities to two other homicides in the Valley where police were called the location and did not immediately find a victim and left the scene.

Menashe Hidra’s body was found April 26 inside his fifth-floor Valley Village apartment after an assailant broke into a neighboring unit, jumped from the balcony to his unit and attacked him, investigators said.

Three days before, neighbors had called 911 and reported hearing shouting and a struggle coming from the apartment. Officers responded to those calls, knocked on the door and left without finding anything.

Erick Escamilla, 27, was charged with the killing, along with an unrelated homicide from 2022.

The same day that Hidra’s body was discovered, police found the body of Aleksandre Modebadze, who was beaten to death inside his Woodland Hills home.

In that case, a woman inside the home called LAPD about 12:30 a.m. and reported three people had broken into her home and were beating her significant other before the call suddenly cut out, according to law enforcement sources. The 911 operator tried to call back multiple times without success.

Shortly before 1 a.m., officers arrived at the home but no one answered the door, there was no noise coming from inside the home, and the blinds were down, the sources told The Times.

Modebadze was later found by officers badly beaten with a traumatic head injury and died of his injuries. Authorities arrested suspects hours after the attack.

In this Encino case, Golan said the department would investigate why the couple, who were both 70, were not found earlier and whether the officers involved acted appropriately. LAPD officials said the front door of the home was not visible from the outside during the initial response.

According to court records, Boodarian was charged in three instances of misdemeanor battery last year. Those charges were ultimately dropped a series of hearings related to his mental competency and a conservatorship investigation.

A SUSPECT has been arrested after American Idol music supervisor Robin Kaye and her husband were found dead in their home.

Robin and husband Thomas DeLuca, both 70, were found dead with gunshot wounds to their heads in their Los Angeles mansion on Monday, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to The U.S. Sun.

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Now, police have arrested suspect Raymond Boodarian, 22, although the nature of his arrest is not yet clear.

Family members had called for a welfare check for the couple on Monday, July 14, after they hadn’t been heard from in four days, police said.

When cops arrived at their home in L.A.’s swanky Encino neighborhood, they found blood at the front entrance of the house, TMZ first reported.

Officers smashed a window to get inside, where they discovered the couple’s bodies.

They were both declared dead at the scene at around 2:30 pm.

Footage obtained by ABC affiliate KABC showed the home’s sliding glass door was shattered.

Neighbor Hannah Massachi, a local realtor, told The U.S. Sun locals are “very shaken” and desperate for answers.

“They were a lovely couple, I saw them a few months ago,” she said, adding, “Why would somebody do this?”

“I’ve lived here for over 30 years. Everyone is proud to live in Encino and all the celebrities are here, all the movie stars. I’ve sold many homes here,” she said.

Police had been called to the couple’s $5 million home just days earlier.

EERIE SCARE

On Thursday, a suspect tried to get into Kaye and Deluca’s house while possibly carrying a gun, residents told NBC affiliate KTLA.

The couple’s neighbors said they called police after someone saw a person hopping the fence.

“We didn’t see or hear anything. My renter called 911 on Thursday because she saw somebody hopping the fence,” neighbor Amee Faggen told KABC before the victims were identified.

“And I have no idea if that was related or not. They came and left, the helicopters and police came.”

It’s unclear if the two incidents are related.

POOL CLEANER SPEAKS OUT

Kaye and Deluca’s pool cleaner, Mauro Quintero, turned up at their home on Tuesday to get paid like usual, he told The U.S. Sun.

Instead, he found crime scene tape and learned they had been murdered.

He said Deluca recently told him about another attempted break-in over a month ago.

“Tom told me about a month ago that people tried to break in in the middle of the night,” Quintero, 55, said, adding that the intruders were scared off by the couple’s two small dogs barking.

“But they have little dogs and they woke him up and they ran off.”

He said the couple put up security cameras after the scare. There were also spikes on the fence surrounding the home.

“They were really nice people, the lady especially,” Quintero recalled.

“I only ever saw the two of them at the house.”

Law enforcement sources said they believe the shooting happened Thursday during a possible burglary at the house, reports NBC4 Washington.

Following their tragic deaths, a spokesperson for American Idol said: “We are devastated to hear of Robin and her dear husband, Tom’s, passing.

“Robin has been a cornerstone of the Idol family since 2009 and was truly loved and respected by all who came in contact with her.

“Robin will remain in our hearts forever and we share our deepest sympathy with her family and friends during this difficult time.”

More to follow… For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at The U.S. Sun, your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures, and must-see videos.

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