Constance Wu Cries With Meghan Markle Over DMs That Led to Suicide Attempt

Actress Constance Wu broke down during a recent appearance on Meghan Markle's podcast, explaining the circumstances that led to her suicide attempt.

The incident relates to the controversial tweet sent by Wu in May 2019, after her sitcom Fresh Off the Boat was renewed for a sixth season. She expressed her unhappiness over the decision on social media, which led to a huge amount of backlash from fans and critics—including a direct message from a fellow "Asian actress" who called her a "disgrace" to her race.

Wu explained that her outburst was related to repressed feelings she had after being sexually harassed by a producer on Fresh Off the Boat years prior. She first made the allegations in her newly published memoir Making a Scene.

Wu opened up to Markle on Archetypes with Meghan, and further explained some of the extenuating circumstances that led to her online outburst, and how she reacted in the aftermath.

The episode of the podcast in which Wu appears begins with a warning from Markle that it gets into some "sensitive conversations" and that if the content becomes "too heavy today, just tune out." As the podcast continues, ahead of Wu's story, Markle provides another voiceover giving listeners a second warning.

The pair discuss Wu's return to social media, with the actress stating she's decided to dip her toe back in on Instagram following conversations with her therapist.

"Three years ago my TV show was renewed, I had a careless moment. I was alone and frustrated and feeling emotional after having repressed a lot of feelings for six years on that show—even though I loved being on that show and I loved almost everybody on it," Wu explained.

"People don't know that during the first year I was going through sexual harassment by one of the producers, and intimidation. I think part of the reason of my outburst on Twitter three years ago over the show's renewal was so seemingly out of character is because it was the build-up of several years of repressing a type of abuse that I had encountered at the hand of a producer, literally at the hands of a producer in my first year."

Wu further explained how because she was so new to the television industry, she wasn't fully aware of the situation she found herself in.

"So I was so scared that wrong move I did, I'd get fired. And this producer was like, 'I'm protecting you. So you have to do everything through me. And if you f*** up you don't know what could happen. Don't talk to your agents, don't talk to your lawyers. Everything goes through me.' And I sort of thought, 'Okay,' because I didn't know what else to think."

Wu also stated that this was before the Me Too movement, and she felt pressure on the show because Fresh Off the Boat was a "beacon for Asian-American representation" on television.

After making headlines with her tweets and Instagram comments in May 2019, she later apologized and stated that she was frustrated because another season of the show would keep her from participating in other projects she was "really passionate about."

As a result of the tweet, Wu received widespread backlash.

"It took a DM from an actress colleague of mine, an Asian actress who basically said I'd become a disgrace to my race and that, you know, I was basically better off dead."

At this point during the conversation with Markle, Wu begins to cry. "It made me feel like I didn't deserve to be alive anymore. So I tried to end my own life and luckily I had a friend who was able to get me to the ER and so I'm okay, but it really made me realize... I know it seems like I'm not okay because I'm crying now, but I think I'm always gonna cry about this because it was really scary, you know?"

Wu further explains that she later decided to quit social media and focus on her own mental health.

Wu was speaking in an episode of Archetypes with Meghan that also featured two other personal stories from Indian actress Deepika Padukone and I Want You Back star Jenny Slate. It is available to listen to on streaming platforms now.