Constance Wu Reveals She Was Sexually Harassed And Intimidated On 'Fresh Off The Boat'

Actress Constance Wu recently revealed that a producer in her 2015 sitcom "Fresh Off the Boat" sexually harassed her while on the show. The actress was on the Asian American show between 2015 to 2020, when its sixth season aired.

During the period the sixth season was announced for renewal, Wu posted a number of tweets complaining about the series and revealed that the news had her "literally crying." The backlash due to her tweets reportedly led the actress to attempt suicide, after which she stayed away from social media entirely for three years.

With Wu's recent return to social media, the 40-year-old revealed that she was sexually harassed and constantly intimidated on the set of "Fresh Off the Boat." While the perpetrator remains unnamed, the actress did say that he was one of the producers of the sitcom.

Read on to learn more.

In an interview with The Atlantic to talk about and promote her new book, "Make a Scene," Wu spoke about being the object of "sexual harassment and intimidation" by one of her ABC show's producers.

During the Friday interview, the 40-year-old revealed that she was unable to speak on the situation at the time because she wanted to protect the show as well as how it impacted the Asian American community.

"My publisher really encouraged me to write [about] it ... I was like, 'No, I'm done with that chapter in my life,'" the actress said (per People). "And then I eventually realized it was important to talk about because I did have a pretty traumatic experience my first couple years on that show, and nobody knew about it because that show was historic for Asian Americans."

Wu went on to explain that due to the show being the only television program to star Asian Americans in decades, she didn't want to harm its reputation. She added, "I kept my mouth shut for a really long time about a lot of sexual harassment and intimidation that I received the first two seasons of the show."

The "Crazy Rich Asians" further revealed that she was eventually able to say "no" to her abuser when the show started taking off. She said that she was able to "handle" the situation without having to go public and damaging the series' reputation.

Wu recalled, "I was no longer scared of losing my job. That's when I was able to start saying 'no' to the harassment, 'no' to the intimidation from this particular producer. And, so I thought, 'You know what? I handled it; nobody has to know, I don't have to stain this Asian American producer's reputation, I don't have to stain the reputation of the show.'"

However, the actress revealed that the solution only resolved the initial problem and her "bad feelings" about the period persisted. She said, "But that didn't necessarily solve things. The thing is bad feelings don't go away just because you will them to. They are inevitably going to come out somewhere."

In 2019, a sixth season was announced for the Asian American show to Wu's dismay. The actress took to Twitter to express how she felt about the announcement; however, she received so much backlash that Wu tried to kill herself.

https://twitter.com/ConstanceWu/status/1547661204545359877?s=20&t=bc2RVv21Lkn9ZKTBfXBBfQ

The 40-year-old addressed the period in her recent interview, revealing that most of the messages she received labeled her proud because of her hit film, "Crazy Rich Asians. She continued, "When really, I wanted to have a fresh slate where I didn't have to start a show with all these memories of abuse."

The actress added, "Those tweets that came out were the emotions I suppressed that I thought I could will away, coming out in another way."

According to the "Hustlers" actress, a small group of people at work knew about the harassment directed at her. Wu revealed that whenever she saw them being friendly with the unnamed abuser, she felt betrayed but knew they had little power.

The actress recalled (per People), "A few people knew [the harassment] was happening, and to go to work every day and see those people who knew that he was sexually harassing me, being 'buddy-buddy' with him, it felt like a betrayal every time. And I don't blame them because he could fire them too."

Wu admitted that although she loved working on the series and everyone involved, it held bad memories for her. "I loved everybody on that crew, and I loved working on that show, but it had that history of abuse that it started with, and even though I handled it after two years," she said through tears. "I was looking forward to a clean slate."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-BWGIwfJcI