Constance Wu said she was “scared” she would be “fired” from Fresh Off The Boat if she made sexual harassment allegations public.
The 40-year-old actress said she felt “emotional” after being “repressed” by a producer on the show, who she has not named.
The Crazy Rich Asians and Hustlers star spoke to the Duchess of Sussex on her podcast, Archetypes, released on Tuesday.
She also told Meghan about how her suicide attempt followed the backlash she received over a tweet.
Wu, who began in Fresh Off The Boat in 2015, tweeted in 2019 when the show was picked up for a sixth season by US TV network ABC.
She wrote: “So upset right now that I’m literally crying. Ugh. F***.”
She told Meghan: “I mean, people don’t know that the first year I was going through sexual harassment by one of the producers and intimidation.
“And I think part of the reason, my outbursts 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 hands of a producer, literally, at the hands of a producer.
“I was so scared that any wrong move I did I’d get fired.”
Wu added the show was a “shining beacon for Asian Americans” and also did not want to ruin that.
“I thought, you know what, I took care of it,” she said. “I figured it out how to work around it really well and keep my job.
“Repression, it doesn’t just disappear because you will it to it goes somewhere.”
She claimed an actress sent her a DM after saying on Twitter she was “upset” by the renewal of the show, telling her “she was disgrace” among other comments.
Wu said she felt the strain and a friend took her to the ER to get help.
My book is out today! #makingascene link in bio
— Constance Wu (@ConstanceWu) October 4, 2022
Before she told the public in July that she had attempted suicide, she warned her mother she would release a statement
Wu told Meghan that her mother said “think about your daughter” and “you’re a public figure”.
She said: “I could see her point, but I said, you know what, mom I do want her to know that.
“I do want her to know that everybody including her mom goes through a hard time and when you go through those hard times, people will help you and you can find help and you can get better.”
Wu’s book, Making A Scene, detailing her struggles was published in October.
Fresh Off The Boat began in 2015 and is loosely based on a book of the same name by chef Eddie Huang.
– Help can be found by calling the Samaritans free of charge at any time on 116 123 or by email at jo@samaritans.org or visit Samaritans.org.
