The Fresh Off the Boat star said, “I was afraid to get back on social media because it almost cost me my life.”
It’s been four years since Crazy Rich Asians made Constance Wu a movie star. She was already the star of Fresh Off the Boat, an ABC sitcom that was very popular. But that was also a strangely quiet time for the actor, who just recently got back to regular acting with a lead role in The Terminal List on Netflix.
Now, Wu has talked about how she left Hollywood and social media. Even more shocking is that she said she tried to kill herself three years ago, when she was in trouble for tweets she sent about Fresh Off the Boat getting a new season.
“It sparked outrage and internet shaming that got pretty bad,” Wu writes, referring to a time in 2019 when she responded to the news that Fresh would be renewed for a sixth season with a number of comments that made it seem like she was upset.
Wu writes that during the incident, she “almost lost her life” to social media:
I felt bad about what I’d said, and when a fellow Asian-American actress told me in a few direct messages (DMs) that I was a bad influence on the Asian-American community, I started to feel like I didn’t deserve to live anymore. That I was a shame to AsAms and they would be better off without me. When I think about it now, it seems strange that a few DMs got me to kill myself, but that’s what happened. I was lucky that a friend found me and took me to the ER right away.
Wu says that the time she spent thinking about herself and her mental health after the incident made her want to write a new book, Making A Scene, “to reach out and help people talk about the uncomfortable stuff so that they can understand it, deal with it, and find ways to heal.”
Wu said at the end of her statement, “After a short break from Hollywood and a lot of therapy, I’m ready to get back on [social media].”
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. They are open 24 hours a day.
