Constance Wu has revealed she attempted suicide after receiving social media backlash over her tweets about ‘Fresh Off The Boat.’
In 2019, the actress tweeted that she was “really upset” about the show’s renewal, sparking outrage from fans who believed she was unappreciative of her role on the sitcom.
Three years later, the 40-year-old made her return to social media, and shared a lengthy statement to address what had happened while she’d been absent.
She wrote, “I haven’t been on social media in almost 3 years. Tbh, I’m a little scared, but I’m dipping my toe back in to say I’m here and while I was gone I wrote a book called ‘Making A Scene.'”
“This next part is hard to talk about… but I was afraid of coming back on social media because I almost lost my life from it: 3 years ago, when I made careless tweets abut the renewal of my TV show, it ignited outrage and internet shaming that got pretty severe.”
Constance recalled receiving DMs from a fellow Asian actress, who told her she was “a blight on the Asian American community,” which prompted her to think she “didn’t deserve to live anymore.”
“[I started thinking] that I was a disgrace to AsAms, 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,” she continued.
— Constance Wu (@ConstanceWu) July 14, 2022
Constance admitted the “scary moment” put things into perspective, and “made me reassess a lot in my life.”
“For the next few years, I put my career aside to focus on my mental health. AsAms don’t talk about mental health enough,” she said.
“While we’re quick to celebrate representation wins, there’s a lot of avoidance around the more uncomfortable issues within our community. Even my tweets became a subject so touchy that most of my AsAm colleagues decided that was the time to avoid me or ice me out.”
“I’ll admit it hurt a lot, but it also made me realize how important it is to reach out and care for people who are going through a hard time.”
Constance said the backlash from social media, and the isolation from the AsAm community prompted her to write her memoir ‘Making A Scene,’ which is due for release in October.
She concluded her statement, “After a little break from Hollywood and a lot of therapy I feel OK enough to venture back on here (at least for a little bit).”
“And even though I’m scared, I’ve decided that I owe it to the me-of-3-years-ago to be brave and share my story so that it might help someone with theirs.”
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