Constance Wu says she was sexually harassed by unnamed ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ producer

“Contemporary Off the Boat” was a breakthrough second for Constance Wu, however the actor says the ABC sitcom left her with “recollections of abuse.”

Months after returning to social media after almost three years, the “Loopy Wealthy Asians” star mentioned Friday that an unnamed producer had sexually harassed her on the set of “Contemporary Off the Boat.” Wu addressed that on the Atlantic Competition and spoke about her upcoming memoir, “Making a Scene,” which incorporates particulars about her time on the TV collection.

“I did have a fairly traumatic expertise my first couple years on that present, and no person knew about it as a result of that present is historic for Asian Individuals,” she mentioned on the occasion. “And it was the one present on community tv, in over 20 years, to star Asian Individuals, and I didn’t wish to sully the fame of the one present we had representing us.

“So due to this fact, I stored my mouth shut for a extremely very long time about a variety of the sexual harassment and intimidation that I acquired the primary two seasons of the present,” she added.

The “Hustlers” star mentioned on Friday that after the collection’ first two seasons, she was “not petrified of shedding my job” and constructed up the boldness to begin “saying ‘no’ to the harassment, ‘no’ to the intimidation from this specific producer.”

“I assumed, ‘You recognize what? I dealt with it. No one has to know,’” she mentioned. “‘I don’t should stain this Asian American producer’s fame. I don’t should stain the fame of the present.’”

From 2015 to 2020, Wu portrayed the matriarch of the central Huang household on “Contemporary Off the Boat.” Throughout Wu’s first yr on the present, the producer allegedly touched Wu inappropriately whereas they have been at a sporting occasion, she wrote within the ebook, in line with the New York Instances.

The New York Instances additionally reported that in her memoir, Wu mentioned the producer — whom she refers to by solely an preliminary — “managed her, demanding that she run all her enterprise issues previous him and telling her what to put on.”

Representatives for ABC declined to remark when reached by The Instances.

Wu mentioned Friday that few folks knew concerning the unnamed producer’s abuse, however that “it felt like a betrayal each time” she noticed these folks “being buddy buddy” with him.

Not talking up concerning the alleged harassment took its toll, she mentioned.

“Unhealthy emotions don’t go away simply because you’ll them to. They’re inevitably going to come back out someplace,” she mentioned throughout the Atlantic Competition. “When the present was renewed after that they had simply instructed me it probably wouldn’t be, I made some very profane, reckless tweets that type of ignited this complete pile-on of hatred in the direction of me.”

Tearing up throughout the Friday panel, Wu mentioned she “needed to have a contemporary slate the place I didn’t have to begin a present with all these recollections of abuse.”

When ABC introduced in 2019 that “Contemporary Off the Boat” was renewed for a sixth season, Wu reacted on Twitter with an specific publish that was extensively criticized. She mentioned Friday that the controversial tweet got here from “the feelings I suppressed.”

“It negatively affected my profession, however in some ways it positively affected me personally as a result of it made me take a break from my profession, it made me go to remedy and perceive it, and in the end come out higher,” she mentioned on the Atlantic Competition.

In July, Wu mentioned the social media backlash, and a subsequent suicide try, “made me reassess rather a lot in my life.” In a statement posted to Twitter, she mentioned her memoir is supposed to assist folks course of troublesome moments and heal from them.

“If we wish to be seen, actually seen… we have to let all of ourselves be seen, together with the elements we’re petrified of or ashamed of — elements that, nevertheless imperfect, require care and a spotlight,” she mentioned within the July assertion.