LOS ANGELES - Constance Wu has said she tried to kill herself after facing a backlash over comments she made about the renewal of her TV series Fresh Off The Boat. The US actress made the revelation in a statement marking her return to Twitter after almost three years. She added she was “afraid of coming back on social media because I almost lost my life from it”. The Crazy Rich Asians star explained she experienced “internet shaming” following her “careless tweets”. “Three years ago, when I made careless tweets about the renewal of my TV show, it ignited outrage and internet shaming that got pretty severe,” she wrote on Thursday. Wu posted a series of tweets in 2019 after a sixth series of the comedy was commissioned by US TV network ABC. The 40-year-old, who had starred in the show since 2015, tweeted: “So upset right now that I’m literally crying. Ugh.”

When a Twitter user congratulated her on the “great news”, which had also been publicly welcomed by some of her co-stars, Wu replied: “No it’s not.” She later said the comments were “ill-timed” and had been made after “a rough day”, adding that the continuation of the show had meant she would be unable to pursue a passion project.

Returning to the platform this week, she added: “I felt awful about what I’d said and when a few DMs (direct messages) 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 any more.

“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.

 

She finished her statement by saying that “after a little break from Hollywood and a lot of therapy” she now felt “OK enough” to return to social media.