Constance Wu Controversy: Constance Wu, Responding to Online Backlash, Has Come Forward to Say, “I Almost Lost My Life.” in 2019, Revealing that She Had Attempted Suicide.
Three years after retreating from the public eye in response to harassment for social media posts on her employment, Constance Wu has returned to Twitter to talk openly about mental health. Wu claims she attempted suicide in the wake of the incident.
After taking a sabbatical from Hollywood and undergoing extensive therapy, Wu announced via Twitter on Thursday that she now feels ready to return to the internet. Despite her apprehension, the author has decided to share her tale in the hopes that it would help others going through similar experiences.
The “Crazy Rich Asians” star vented her anger in less than an hour after her ABC comedy “Fresh Off the Boat” was renewed for a sixth season with two scathing tweets. At a later date, she explained her initial shock and anger and thanked the producers and cast for making her feel refreshed and pleased to be a part of the show.
My love for FOTB is unending. The show is terrible, but yesterday I had a little moment of sadness since I had to give up something about which I felt very strongly, she wrote. Thus, my horrified social media replies had less to do with FOTB and more to do with that other endeavor.
On Thursday, Wu stated, “I almost lost my life from it,” describing her reluctance to use social media again.
She elaborated, “Three years ago, I caused controversy and some quite harsh internet shaming when I made silly comments on Twitter about the renewal of my TV show. After receiving a few private messages from another Asian actress accusing me of defiling the Asian American community, I felt so bad about what I’d said that I thought I didn’t deserve to live.
“It’s hard to believe that a few direct messages convinced me to end my life. Fortunately, a friend tracked me down and rushed me to the emergency room.
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This “traumatic experience that made me reassess a lot in my life,” as Wu puts it, led her to prioritize her mental health over her professional success. (After gaining both commercial and critical success over the course of a few years, she has only guest-starred on a handful of TV shows and animated films in the last three years.)
Now she’s opening up about mental health, which is taboo to talk about among Asian Americans.
Although we are quick to celebrate representational triumphs, she said, our community tends to avoid discussing difficult subjects.
The bulk of my (Asian American) employees thought it was best to ignore or remove themselves from me because even my tweets had become such a sensitive matter. I’ll be honest, that really hurt, but it helped me realize how important it is to help others in need.
While Wu was away from social media, she wrote and self-published a book titled “Making a Scene.” USA TODAY has reached out to her publisher for comment. Even though she knows that her book won’t always provide “the most positive portrayal” of herself, she still wants to “help people talk about the painful stuff in order to understand it, engage with it, and open paths to recovery.”
She said, “If we want to be seen, really seen, we have to be all of who we are, and that includes the parts of ourselves that make us feel uncomfortable or ashamed because they need love and care. And when we get there, we need to stop being so hard on one another and on ourselves.
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