Constance Wu reveals she attempted suicide after social media backlash

Constance Wu has returned to social media to reveal how "I almost lost my life from it."

The Crazy Rich Asians star ended a lengthy Twitter hiatus on Thursday to reveal that she survived a suicide attempt in the wake of online backlash three years ago.

In 2019, Wu came under fire after expressing displeasure that her show Fresh off the Boat was renewed. "So upset right now that I'm literally crying," she tweeted. She later explained she was upset because this meant she'd have to drop out of another project. "So my dismayed social media replies were more about that other project and not about [Fresh off the Boat]," she said.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Three years later, Wu said the "internet shaming" she received at the time was so intense that it led her to attempt suicide. "It's surreal that a few DMs convinced me to end my own life, but that's what happened," she said. "Luckily, a friend found me and rushed me to the ER."

Wu says she felt she "didn't even deserve to live anymore," especially after receiving direct messages from an unnamed fellow Asian actress who "told me I'd become a blight on the Asian American community." This "made me reassess a lot in my life" and spend the following years focusing on her mental health, Wu says, and she's now written a book titled Making a Scene.

"I've decided that I owe it to the me-of-3-years-ago to be brave and share my story," Wu said, "so that it might help someone with theirs."