Actress Constance Wu had a surprising reaction when she found out that her show “Fresh off the Boat” was renewed for a second season. She was upset. Normally, an actor or actress would be excited for their show to get picked up for another season. Her reaction was so strange that she was criticized for it by other people in the entertainment industry.

In response, Wu wrote a book about what was going on behind the scenes of the show that made her react the way she did. It turns out that a senior producer on the show was sexually harassing her.

During an interview on the talk show “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” Wu opened up about why she wrote the book. She shared, “To be honest, I didn’t want to write about that. That was the last essay I wrote for the book.” It turns out that her editor “pushed” her to write about it.

Wu continued, “All of the sexual harassment, the inappropriate touching, the telling me to wear short skirts and intimidation, that all only happened in the first two years of the show.” She explained that she “was scared of being fired.”

As time went on, Wu felt more confident that she had “job security” and wouldn’t get fired, so she stood up for herself and said “no” to the senior producer who was harassing her. She explained that even though he was upset, she didn’t lose her job, and it “was okay.”

Wu didn’t want to “stain the reputation” of the show “Fresh off the Boat” by writing about her experience. She didn’t even want to hurt the producer’s reputation. Instead, she wanted to try to “keep it inside,” but that didn’t work the way she planned.

Wu continued by explaining that she had trouble being herself when she was on set because of the presence of her former abuser. She explained, “The thing I learned is that bad feelings and abuse don’t just go away.”

As she continued to talk about her experience, she got emotional, fighting back tears, but she pressed on, saying that she believes it’s important not to jump from being curious about a situation to being judgmental of someone’s actions or reactions.

Wu also spoke about her experience at an Atlantic Panel festival. She stated, “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.” 

While writing her book, “Making a Scene,” Wu retreated from social media which had previously brought her to such a dark place that she was suicidal. The book and interviews have given her the opportunity to explain her actions, reactions and experiences she has learned that she couldn’t hide from anymore.

Watch Wu’s emotional interview with Meyers in the video below.

 

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