Wu additionally clarified her 2019 tweet about the ABC show’s renewal, explaining, “I desired to have a clean slate the place I didn’t have to begin an exhibit with all these reminiscences of abuse”
Constance Wu is speaking out about her troubling trip working on Fresh Off the Boat.
In a dialog with The Atlantic on Friday to promote her new e-book Making a Scene, the actress, 40, printed that she confronted “sexual harassment and intimidation” on the set of the ABC sitcom by using one of the show’s producers.
Though she used to be uncomfortable with the situation, Wu stated she did now not come ahead with the story at the time to guard the exhibit and its influence on the Asian American community.
Reps for ABC did no longer right now reply to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
“My writer truly influenced me to write [about] it … I used to be like, ‘No I’m executed with that chapter in my life,'” Wu recalled on stage to The Atlantic’s reporter. “And then I finally realized it was once necessary to speak about due to the fact I did have an extraordinarily worrying ride my first couple years on that show, and no one knew about it because exhibit them as once historical for Asian Americans.”
“It was once the sole exhibit on community tv in over 20 years to big name Asian Americans, and I did now not favor to sully the recognition of the one exhibit we had representing us,” she continued. “I stored my mouth shut for a without a doubt lengthy time about a lot of sexual harassment and intimidation that I acquired the first two seasons of the show.”
Once the exhibit grew to become “a success” on ABC, the Crazy Rich Asians celebrity stated she felt an experience of self-belief to say “no” to the unidentified producer.
“I was once no longer scared of losing my job,” she explained. “That’s when I used to be capable to begin announcing ‘no’ to the harassment, ‘no’ to the intimidation, from this precise producer. And, so I thought, ‘You comprehend what? I dealt with it, no person has to know, I do not have to stain this Asian American producer’s reputation, I do not have to stain the popularity of the show.'”
But that did not always resolve things, as Wu noted, “The issue is awful emotions do not go away simply due to the fact you will them to. They are inevitably going to come out somewhere.”
The Hustlers superstar then addressed her 2019 tweet, in which she publicly expressed her disappointment after the show’s renewal — a choice that now not solely led to mass criticism, but additionally one that led her to in the end try suicide.
“I made some very profane, reckless tweets that type of ignited this entire pile-on of hatred toward me due to the fact I simply had a hit movie, Crazy Rich Asians, so it appeared simply horrific from the outside. Like, ‘Oh, she thinks she’s this large film star,'” Wu explained. “When really, I desired to have a clean slate the place I did not have to begin an exhibit with all these reminiscences of abuse.”
“A few human beings knew [the harassment] was once happening, and to go to work each day and see these human beings who knew that he was once sexually harassing me, being ‘buddy-buddy’ with him, it felt like a betrayal every time,” she added. “And I do not blame them due to the fact he ought to fireplace them too.”
Through tears, Wu continued: “I cherished each person on that crew, and I cherished working on that show, however, it had that records of abuse, that it commenced with, and even even though I dealt with it after two years, I was once searching forward to an easy slate.”
Going returned to her unique factor from earlier, Wu noted, “Those tweets that got here out had been the feelings I suppressed that I notion I should will away, coming out in any other way.”
She then published how the journey led her to take a wreck from her career, go to remedy, and “ultimately come out higher due to the fact of it.”
“Every time I speak about it, I begin crying. It used to be tough to maintain it in for so long,” the actress brought as she wiped away tears.
Wu starred in Fresh Off the Boat from 2015 to 2020 for six seasons. While complaining about its sixth season renewal in May 2019, Wu tweeted about how she used to be “so upset” and “literally crying.”
As a fan congratulated her on the “great news,” Wu said: “No it is not.”
Wu later retracted her preliminary statement, explaining that her tweets had been “on the heels of hard day & had been unwell timed w/ the information of the show.” She added, “Plz know, I’m so grateful for FOTB renewal. I love the solid & crew. I’m proud to be a phase of it.”
The tweets sooner or later sparked outrage from followers who did not suppose the rising Crazy Rich Asians was once appreciative of her role on the ABC comedy, prompting Wu to go away from social media for three years.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times about her outburst months later, Wu claimed she was once upset through the renewal on account that it averted her from starring in a movie she desired to be a section of. “I had this second of warmth the place I obtained upset due to the fact I had to supply up a job I had been searching ahead to and had been chasing for a while,” she said.
Upon returning to the systems this previous July, Wu shared a prolonged assertion that addressed what befell at some stage in her time away from social media, how she had tried suicide following the backlash, and her plans to launch a memoir of deeply private essays.
“I was once afraid of coming again on social media due to the fact I nearly misplaced my lifestyle from it: three years ago when I made careless tweets about the renewal of my TV show, it ignited outrage and web shaming that acquired incredibly severe,” she wrote in a tweet posted Jul. 14. “I felt lousy about what I’d said, and when a few DMs from a fellow Asian actress informed me I’d end up blight on the Asian American community, I commenced feeling like I did not even deserve to stay anymore. That I was once a shame to AsAms, and they’d be higher off barring me.”
Luckily, a pal discovered her and rushed her to the ER, which Wu referred to as “a frightening second that made me reassess a lot in my life.”
“For the subsequent few years, I put my profession apart to focal point on my intellectual health. AsAms do not discuss intellectual fitness enough. While we’re rapid to have a good time illustration wins, there is a lot of avoidance around the greater uncomfortable troubles inside our community,” she explained, in part. “Even my tweets grew to become a concern so sensitive that most of my AsAm colleagues determined that used to be the time to keep away from me or ice me out. I’ll admit it harms a lot, however, it additionally made me realize how essential it is to attain out and care for human beings who are going thru a tough time.”
“After a little smash from Hollywood and a lot of remedies, I experience OK adequate to challenge returned on right here (at least for a little bit). And even though I’m scared, I’ve determined that I owe it to the me-of-3-years-ago to be courageous and share my story so that it would possibly assist any person with theirs,” she introduced at the quit of her note.
Wu’s book, Making a Scene, hits bookshelves on Oct. 4.
