In February 2017, Hwayoung and her twin sister Hyoyoung spoke about the "bullying" scandal on a reality show. Hwayoung used the opportunity to state how hard it was for her, and her only support was her sister. This brought the rumors back to public attention. Soon after, a former staff member claimed that it had really been the twins who had "bullied" the other members. This person released texts that appeared to show Hyoyoung threatening Areum with physical harm. Other staff members also came forward with evidence that Hwayoung had treated the other members and staff badly. They also claimed that she had faked how severe her injury was, in order to get more sympathy. Hwayoung at first tried to deny this, but later admitted that the texts were real. This put an end to the bullying rumors about other members of T-ara.