Constance Wu has said that she attempted suicide after backlash to a series of “careless” tweets in 2019.
In a statement marking her first return to Twitter in nearly three years, the Hustlers actor announced her upcoming book, Making a Scene, and explained that she 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.”
— Constance Wu (@ConstanceWu) July 14, 2022
At the time, Wu reacted in frustration to ABC’s renewal of the sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, in which she starred. She tweeted: “So upset right now that I’m literally crying. Ugh. Fuck” and “Fucking hell.” When another user congratulated her, calling the renewal “great news”, Wu replied, “No it’s not.”
Wu later clarified that her comments were posted during a “rough day” and that her disappointment was due to having to pull out of a passion project. She added in a statement that her role on Fresh Off the Boat had become “easy and pleasant” and she was looking for new challenges.
“I felt awful about what I’d said,” Wu wrote in Thursday’s statement, “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. 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 said of her suicide attempt. “For the next few years, I put my career aside to focus on my mental health.”
After a handful of small or voice roles, Wu recently starred with Chris Pratt in the Amazon action series The Terminal List and will next be seen on the big screen in the kids adventure Lyle Lyle Crocodile.
“AsAms don’t talk about mental health enough,” she wrote. 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 concluded her statement that after “a little break from Hollywood and a lot of therapy,” she felt “OK enough” to venture back on to social media. “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.”
In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org.
