Constance Wu opens up about suicide bid after Twitter backlash

WASHINGTON • American actress Constance Wu made a suicide attempt three years ago, bruised by a bitter social media backlash, said the Crazy Rich Asians (2018) star on Thursday.

Wu, 40, faced a torrent of criticism in 2019 over remarks she made on Twitter about the sitcom Fresh Off The Boat, which she starred in from 2015 to 2020.

After online shaming from users who called the remarks disparaging, and a message from another Asian-American actress who called Wu "a blight on the Asian-American community", Wu decided to take her life.

"I started feeling like I didn't deserve to live any more. That I was a disgrace to Asian Americans, and they'd be better off without me," she said in a statement posted on Twitter on Thursday.

"Luckily, a friend found me and rushed me to the hospital," wrote the actress. She did not give further details.

After surviving the suicide attempt, she put her career on hold and left social media to focus on her mental health.

But she decided to return to online platforms and share her story in order to launch a broader discussion about mental health among Asian Americans.

"Asian Americans don't talk about mental health enough," Wu wrote. "While we're quick to celebrate representation wins, there's avoidance around the more uncomfortable issues within our community."

Her 2019 tweets followed news that hit sitcom Fresh Off The Boat, depicting a Taiwanese-American family trying to build a new life in Florida, had been renewed for a sixth season. "So upset right now that I'm literally crying. Ugh," she tweeted then, adding an expletive.

Many users chastised her for appearing ungrateful for the show's success.

Wu said in her post on Thursday that those tweets were "careless". She had also said at the time she was upset because the show's renewal would put her other projects on hold.

"Even though I'm scared, I've decided that I owe it to the me-of-three-years-ago to be brave and share my story, so that it might help someone with theirs," she added.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE