Constance Wu attends the premiere of “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile” at AMC Lincoln Sq. on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, in New York. Wu simply launched a brand new memoir during which she revisits cases of harassment and abuse. Evan Agostini, Invision by way of Related Press
Actress Constance Wu’s explorative new memoir, “Making a Scene,” was launched to the general public on Wednesday, containing descriptions of her trauma and explanations for her complicated conduct and subsequent disappearance from social media.
Wu dives into office sexual harassment on the set of the sitcom “Recent Off the Boat,” her controversial tweets and the following backlash.
Office harassment
Within the early years of her first huge TV present, “Recent Off the Boat,” Wu mentioned that she skilled ongoing sexual harassment by one of many producers of the present.
In an interview with “Crimson Desk Speak,” she describes cases during which this producer suggestively touched her and made feedback that made her uncomfortable. She mentioned that he requested her to put on shorter skirts and to maintain her hair lengthy, and intimidated her into his management, in response to Vulture.
As an alternative of going to human assets, although, she opted to maintain it to herself.
Of this determination, she advised The Atlantic, “... It was the one present on community tv in over 20 years to star Asian Individuals, and I didn't need to sully the popularity of the one present we had representing us.”
She went on to say that she felt extra snug saying “no” to this producer as soon as the present grew to become extra profitable and her job was now not in jeopardy. To “Crimson Desk Speak” she expressed remorse over not reporting the harassment to HR in order that there’d be a file for future actors and actresses.
The tweets
Wu mentioned she thought she had overcome her emotions in regards to the sexual harassment she confronted on the set of “Recent Off the Boat.” However when the present was renewed for its last season in 2019, she found in any other case, per BuzzFeed.
After it was introduced that the present had been renewed, she tweeted, “So upset proper now that I’m actually crying.” She adopted up with extra tweets condemning the present’s renewal.
The backlash and her psychological well being
Individuals didn't react kindly to her tweets, calling her spoiled, ungrateful and telling her she ought to endure.
Wu mentioned that a former Asian American colleague messaged her and mentioned, “Nothing you could possibly ever do would make up in your atrocious conduct and disgusting ingratitude.”
The colleague continued, “You sullied the one shining beacon of hope for Asian Individuals. You’ve turn out to be a blight on the Asian American group.”
The sheer quantity of intense backlash she acquired from each strangers and folks she knew propelled her right into a state of darkness. She fell right into a melancholy so deep that she claimed she was not secure.
On the “Crimson Desk Speak,” she shared that she “felt like the one factor that will show to her (the colleague) that I felt as dangerous as she thought I deserved to really feel can be if I died.”
Wu described the day that a pal saved her from probably trying suicide. She mentioned, “A pal who had come to examine on me pulled me over from climbing over the ledge and dragged me into the elevator and took me right into a cab and took me to a psychiatric emergency room.”
She mentioned that sought assist and labored to heal herself, a course of that included remedy and a break from performing.
Proudly owning as much as her conduct
In her memoir, Wu doesn't try and justify her actions. She owns as much as her errors, even when they have been provoked by traumatic experiences.
Most significantly, she takes again management of her personal narrative.
Wu’s return to performing contains the upcoming film “Lyle Lyle Crocodile” (out Oct. 7) and a task within the Amazon collection “The Terminal Checklist.”