Constance Wu is speaking out about her mental health crisis following her 2019 Fresh Off the Boat Twitter controversy.
The Crazy Rich Asians actress took to Twitter on Thursday to share her first social media post in almost three years.
Her break followed a series of frustrated tweets, which she shared in reaction to the renewal of her ABC sitcom, Fresh Off the Boat. At the time, Wu wrote of the then on-the-bubble show’s renewal, “So upset right now that I’m literally crying. Ugh.” Following backlash from her tweets, she explained, “I was temporarily upset yesterday not bc I hate the show but bc its renewal meant i had to give up another project that I was really passionate about.”
In her Thursday post, Wu said she was “scared” to return to social media, but was doing so to promote her upcoming book Making a Scene. She also shared that the backlash led her to attempt to end her life.
“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,” she wrote. “3 years ago, when I made careless tweets about the renewal of my TV show, it ignited outrage and internet shaming that got pretty severe. I felt awful about what I’d said, and when a few DMs from a fellow Asian actress told me l’d become a blight on the Asian American community, I started feeling like I didn’t even deserve to live anymore. 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. Luckily, a friend found me and rushed me to the ER. It was a scary moment that made me reassess a lot in my life.”
Wu shared that following her mental health crisis, she took a break from her career.
“AsAms don’t talk about mental health enough,” the Hustlers star noted. “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.”
Wu said that she wrote Making a Scene in order to “reach out and help people talk about the uncomfortable stuff in order to understand it, reckon with it, and open pathways to healing.”
“If we want to be seen, really seen… we need to let all of ourselves be seen, including the parts we’re scared of or ashamed of-parts that, however imperfect, require care and attention. And we need to stop beating each other (and ourselves) up when we do,” she continued. “So while my book is not always the most flattering portrayal, it’s as honest as I know how to be. Because the truth is, I’m not poised or graceful or perfect. I’m emotional. make mistakes…lots of ’em! 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.”
Wu is currently starring alongside Chris Pratt in The Terminal List on Prime Video.
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, call 911, or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741. Effective July 16, call 988.
