US actress Constance Wu (吳恬敏) made a suicide attempt three years ago, bruised by a bitter social media backlash, the Crazy Rich Asians star said on Thursday.
Wu, 40, in 2019 faced a torrent of criticism over remarks she made on Twitter about the sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, which she starred in.
After online shaming from people who called the remarks disparaging, and a message from another Asian American actress who called Wu “a blight on the Asian American community,” Wu said she decided to take her own life.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I started feeling like I didn’t even deserve to live anymore. That I was a disgrace to AsAms [Asian Americans], and they’d be better off without me,” Wu wrote on Twitter. “Luckily, a friend found me and rushed me to the ER [emergency room].”
After surviving the suicide attempt, Wu put her career on hold and left social media.
However, she decided to return to online platforms and share her story to launch a broader discussion about mental health among Asian Americans.
“AsAms don’t talk about mental health enough,” Wu wrote. “While we’re quick to celebrate representation wins, there’s a lot of avoidance around the more uncomfortable issues within our community.”
Wu’s 2019 tweets followed news that the hit ABC sitcom Fresh Off the Boat depicting a Taiwanese-American family trying to build a new life in Florida had been renewed for a sixth season. “So upset right now that I’m literally crying. Ugh,” Wu wrote at the time, drawing criticism from people saying that she appeared ungrateful for the show’s success.
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