Constance Wu has opened up about her suicide attempt and the sexual harassment she endured on Fresh Off The Boat in an emotional and raw interview.
Wu is doing press rounds for her upcoming memoir titled Making A Scene, where she revealed she was sexually harassed by a producer on the set of the first two seasons of Fresh Off The Boat.
Fearing both losing her job and directing racism at a fellow Asian American, she stayed silent about what she endured.
“I was scared of losing my job, and compared to the other stories of the harassment I endured, it ‘wasn’t that bad’,” she told Good Morning America in a tearful interview on Tuesday.
“In fact, to be honest, what I went through was pretty common.”
She said she hid the abuse because the producer was “such a good proponent for Asian American issues that I [didn’t] want to bring him down”. A sad reality for many women of colour — we often have to choose between protecting ourselves or showing racial solidarity. Constance Wu chose the latter.
“It really was a conflict for me, because I didn’t want to stain the reputation of the one show Asian Americans had to represent themselves,” she said.
“It’s like, how do you hold them accountable for that, yet also include and support how much they help the Asian American community?
“It’s a difficult choice to make, and back then it was a choice I made because [Fresh Off the Boat] was the only show we had for Asian American representation.”
Honestly, the world does not deserve Constance Wu.
Y’all owe Constance Wu an apology for how y’all treated her after Fresh off the Boat. She literally worked through sexual harassment in order to save that show, keep everyone employed and to have representation. I feel bad for her.
— Chaos Coordinator (@wyetthasspoken) October 4, 2022
The Crazy Rich Asians star also opened up about the time she was the subject of a vicious Twitter pile on in 2019 because she no longer wanted to be on Fresh Off The Boat.
“I’d gotten these other jobs that I was really excited about and I was ready for a clean slate,” she said.
“I was ready to stop working at a place that held so many memories of sexual harassment and shame and fear. So when I found out that I couldn’t move on, I felt — honestly, in that moment, I felt betrayed and I felt lied to.”
Wu said that while her infamous tweet, in which she said she was “crying” because of the news, was “reckless” and “graceless”, it absolutely did not deserve the response she got.
“The backlash was immediate,” she recalled.
“There was a huge pile on. I was essentially canceled for coming off as ungrateful, and the most painful thing of all was that it was really the Asian American community that either ostracized or avoided me the most.”
“Do I think the proportion of the hatred and the cancellation pitted at me was equal to the amount of error I did? No.”
Constance Wu literally carried that show on her back, I was in tears watching #TheView this morning. Many marginalized women in the Hollywood industry end up dealing with sexual abuse in silence to avoid being seen as the one to “mess things up”. https://t.co/tOKtnDA6id
— ~Cautious Rebel ~ (@danadane777) October 4, 2022
Wu also elaborated on the nasty DMs she mentioned in a statement earlier this year (more on that below), where she said a fellow Asian American star had called her a “blight” on the community.
“It made me feel like Asian Americans feel like it would be better if I just didn’t exist,” she said.
“I pulled myself over the balcony of my apartment building, you know, and I was going to jump.
“Talking about it now makes my palms itch, ’cause I remember, like, holding onto it. But ultimately, it ended up being something helpful because it made me get help. I was in therapy and under observation for a long time.”
In case you missed it, the Crazy Rich Asians actress left Twitter in 2019 after she tweeted her frustration about Fresh Off The Boat‘s last-minute renewal for a sixth season.
“So upset right now that I’m literally crying,” Wu complained in the tweet. She was disappointed because she was hoping to pursue other projects, but now we know she was also traumatised from sexual harassment.
Fans freaked out at the time and accused Wu of failing the Asian community just because she wanted out of a show that — while being groundbreaking and close to many of our hearts — employed some pretty overtired stereotypes. How dare an Asian woman want to expand her career past her break out role, right?
Wu has since returned to the platform and revealed the hate she received for that tweet nearly cost her life.
“I was afraid of coming back on social media because I almost lost my life from it,” she wrote in a lengthy statement.
https://twitter.com/ConstanceWu/status/1547661204545359877?s=20&t=-yXrJiN7OvB17C9bDI2tdg
“Three years ago, when I made careless tweets about the renewal of my TV show, it ignited outrage and internet shaming that got pretty severe.
“I felt awful about what I’d said, and when a few DMs from a fellow Asian actress told me I’d become a blight on the Asian American community, I started feeling like I didn’t deserve to live anymore.
“That I was a disgrace to AsAms (Asian Americans), and they’d be better off without me.
“Looking back, it’s surreal that a few DMs convinced me to end my own life, but that’s what happened. Luckily a friend found me and rushed me to the ER.”
It was wild how people (especially those in the Asian American community) collectively decided that Constance Wu was “unfit” to “represent” AsnAms, over a not-so-great sitcom that over-stylized Asian/AsnAm stereotypes. I am thankful that Wu was found by her friend.
— Ray Liu 劉錕, Writer (@rayliur) July 14, 2022
“AsAms don’t talk enough about mental health,” Wu’s statement continued.
“While we’re quick to celebrate representation wins, there’s a lot of avoidance around the uncomfortable issues in our society.”
Honestly, Constance Wu is spot on.
if i was constance wu and they tried to shackle me to a show i was carrying on my back right as my film career was taking off i would’ve said much worse and ik y’all would too so the hate she got was so wild
— sk (@kirkxxs) July 14, 2022
“Representation” as a social concept is a double edged sword for women of colour. Our communities often leverage their support like a threat — “be the representation *we* want you to be, and we will love, support and uplift you. Choose your own passions and you will be punished and ostracised”.
For a lot of us, support from our communities is conditional to how much we serve them. God forbid we choose ourselves and our own passions.
That shit about Constance Wu is so sad. She’s an amazing actress & all she did was express that she wanted more out of her career than what she was being given & the world loves to crucify women for wanting more smfh
— Bat🦇Bruja (@ModernVenus21) July 14, 2022
Constance Wu’s story should be a reminder that ethnic celebrities (or literally any POC with platforms) don’t owe us representation at the expense of their own autonomy and wellbeing. We’re not entitled to them and their lives.
And more importantly, our racial identities are inalienable. They can’t be gate-kept from you. You’re never inadequate representation by not playing to stereotypes. You never stop being Asian (or South Asian, or Black) just because you choose yourself over your community. And your racial identity sure as hell can’t be stripped away or policed by other POC who feel entitled to you.
Robert pattinson talks about hating his character and he’s quirky and hilarious, Constance Wu talks about hating her character and she’s “a blight to the Asian community”?????? Fuck outta here!!! Constance Wu is chaotic asian who hates their job representation
— abby govindan (@abbygov) July 14, 2022
It’s okay to want race representation, most of us do. What’s not okay is viciously tearing apart someone for not wanting to be your poster child for it.
People dunking on Constance Wu are such hypocrites. Who hasn’t outgrown a job & wanted to leave when a better opportunity presented itself? Wanting to leave FOTB doesn’t mean she hated the series/her colleagues. It meant she wanted more challenging roles and to grow as an artist.
— Jae-Ha Kim 김재하 (@GoAwayWithJae) July 15, 2022
If a certain example of diversity and representation in media comes with the diverse individual in question being abused, we should question why we even want it.
The safety and happiness of that person should always be more important than wanting to see ourselves on screen. Representation should be a shift in the zeitgeist, a concept that gives underrepresented groups more opportunities to break out of their stereotypes — not a vanity project for our own egos.
If you need mental health support, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or chat online.
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If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
