Constance Wu. MediaPunch/Shutterstock
Sharing her story. Constance Wu is opening up about the criticism she faced right after the 2019 renewal of her show Refreshing Off the Boat, revealing she contemplated suicide amid the backlash.
“Hi everyone. I have not been on social media in pretty much 3 years. Tbh, I’m a tiny terrified, but I’m dipping my toe again in to say I’m listed here and while I was absent I wrote a guide referred to as Earning a Scene,” the Ridiculous Prosperous Asians actress, 40, started in a lengthy assertion shared by using Twitter on Thursday, July 14. All other posts on her account appeared to be deleted.
Wu instructed her followers that her practical experience on the internet was “hard to talk about,” explaining why she was so hesitant to return to the platform. “I was concerned of coming again on social media simply because I nearly misplaced my lifestyle from it: 3 many years ago, when I manufactured careless tweets about the renewal of my Tv set demonstrate, it ignited outrage and web shaming that bought quite serious,” she continued. “I felt dreadful about what I’d reported, and when a couple of DMs from a fellow Asian actress told me I’d come to be a blight on the Asian American group, I begun experience like I did not even have earned to dwell anymore. That I was a disgrace to AsAms, and they’d be much better off with no me. Wanting back again, it is surreal that a few DMs persuaded me to finish my possess lifestyle, but that’s what occurred. Thankfully, a close friend located me and rushed me to the ER.”
The Virginia indigenous arrived underneath hearth in 2019 for expressing her aggravation when ABC’s Fresh new Off the Boat, which debuted in 2015, was renewed for yet another period. “So upset appropriate now that I’m actually crying. Ugh. F—-k,” Wu tweeted at the time. “F–king hell.”
When 1 social media user congratulated her on the vocation news, calling it “great,” Wu replied, “No it’s not.”
After boosting eyebrows with her remarks, the actress went on to make clear that her dedication to the collection compelled her to pull out of a distinct project that she was “really passionate about” because of to the renewal. “So my dismayed social media replies have been much more about that other challenge and not about FOTB,” she reported at the time. “These terms are my truth. I hope you listen to them.”
Wu explained at the time that she desired to dive further into her craft immediately after actively playing an “easy and pleasant” character on the sitcom for so long. The Golden Globe nominee starred alongside Randall Park on the sequence, which showcased the life of an Asian-American family members in Florida in the ’90s. Fresh Off the Boat ended in 2020 following six seasons.
In her lengthy observe to supporters, Wu reported the backlash — and her own response to it — gave her a new perspective. “It was a terrifying instant that built me reassess a great deal in my lifetime,” the Hustlers star wrote on Thursday. “For the next handful of many years, I put my vocation aside to concentrate on my psychological health and fitness. [Asian-Americans] do not communicate about psychological health more than enough. Whilst we’re swift to celebrate representation wins, there is a whole lot of avoidance close to the much more uncomfortable problems in our community.”
Although the criticism “hurt a whole lot,” Wu reported the condition “made me realize how essential it is to arrive at out and treatment for persons who are heading by way of a really hard time.”
She owned up to “[making] issues … heaps of ’em!” and encouraged all those who examine her book to “reach out and enable people chat about the awkward things,” even if it is demanding. “After a minor split from Hollywood and a lot of therapy I truly feel Ok ample to enterprise back on here (at minimum for a small bit),” she concluded. “And even even though I’m terrified, I’ve resolved that I owe it to the me-of-3-a long time-in the past to be brave and share my story so that it may possibly assistance an individual with theirs.”
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, simply call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-Communicate (8255).
