Actor Constance Wu opened up about her suicide try in a tearful dialog on Jada Pinkett Smith’s present “Pink Desk Discuss,” divulging what led to the incident.
Within the interview, launched on Oct. 5, Wu went into element about her expertise because the matriarch in ABC’s “Recent Off the Boat,” which included alleged sexual assault by a producer, on-line backlash for talking in regards to the present’s renewal and her suicide try in 2019.
Wu mentioned messages from one other Asian American actor calling her a “blight on the Asian American neighborhood” amid the backlash she obtained for tweeting her disdain for the season six renewal have been “the straw that broke the camel’s again.”
“I learn these DMs from an Asian actress, anyone who ought to have been my ally. And I felt like nothing I may ever do could be sufficient,” she mentioned within the interview. “I felt like the one factor that might show to her that I felt as unhealthy as she thought I deserved to really feel could be if I died.”
In her new ebook, “Making a Scene,” Wu recounted how she climbed as much as the ledge of her fifth flooring New York Metropolis condominium constructing with a blanket after studying these DMs with the plan to leap. She mentioned a buddy got here to test on her, climbed over the ledge and took her to a psychiatric emergency room.
She mentioned she started seeing a psychologist and a psychiatrist daily for some time after the incident. “I wanted it. I used to be unsafe at that time,” she mentioned.
Wu, 40, mentioned individuals have been canceling her for being “ungrateful and ungraceful.”
She instructed the Smiths that on-line customers mentioned she was being a diva and egocentric for not contemplating the roles of everybody on the present.
“What individuals didn’t notice was that in my first couple years on ‘Recent Off the Boat,’ I used to be sexually harassed and I used to be intimidated and I used to be threatened on a regular basis,” she mentioned.
Wu mentioned she felt like she couldn’t communicate up in regards to the harassment.
“The factor that was most painful was, he was so derogatory and harassing in direction of me however as a result of this present was type of a beacon of illustration for Asian People and I type of turned an emblem of illustration, I didn’t need to sully the one present with sexual harassment claims,” she mentioned.
ABC didn’t reply to NBC Information’ request for remark.
Nadia Kim, a professor of sociology and of Asian and Asian American research at Loyola Marymount College, mentioned on the panel that the dearth of Asian American illustration makes it tougher.
“As a result of there are so few Asian American stars, there’s unimaginable strain placed on these actors, like Constance Wu, to be excellent,” she mentioned.
For those who or somebody you understand is in disaster, name the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, textual content HOME to 741741 or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/assets for extra assets.
