Constance Wu, an
American actress who broke through into Hollywood through the popular TV series
Fresh Off the Boat, recently said that she had faced sexual harassment from an
unnamed producer on the sets of the sitcom. Her statement came on the eve of
the release of her memoir titled Making a Scene. Fresh Off the Boat was the
first sitcom on network television to cast an Asian American lead. The show
came out in 2015.

Wu, best known for playing Rachel Wu on ‘Crazy Rich Asians’, returned to social media after a hiatus of three years recently and revealed that she attempted suicide three years ago after receiving backlash for her tweet about the sitcom ‘Fresh Off the Boat,’ which she starred in.

“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 about the renewal of my TV show, it ignited outrage and internet shaming that got pretty severe,” the 40-year-old wrote in a lengthy post on Twitter.

“I felt awful about what I’d said, and when a few DMs from a fellow Asian actress told me I’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,” she continued.

“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.”

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Who is Constance Wu?

Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Constance Wu grew up performing in the local community theater scene. When she turned 16, she moved to New York City to study at Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She initially worked in classical theater before quickly moving to films. She went on to appear in films like Stephanie Daley (2006) and Year of the Fish (2007).

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In 2010, Wu moved to Los Angeles. She acted in the 2011 movie Sound of My Voice. Wu then starred as Jessica Huang on the ABC comedy series “Fresh Off the Boat” for six seasons from 2015 to 2020. She received a Critic’s Choice nomination for the role in 2018. 

The same year, she starred as Rachel Chu in the romantic comedy hit Crazy Rich Asians.