Constance Wu's Attempt At Self-Harm Tells How Dangerous Social Media Harassment Can Be

The trolling and harassment of celebrities have unfortunately become the norm. While checking the news, one can often find several articles about actors being “brutally trolled” for their clothes. The lives of celebrities are constantly scrutinised and every aspect of their behaviour is put under a microscope. Social media has made it easier for people to harass, insult, and troll public figures such as actors. Online trolling and social media harassment have dire effects on the mental health of actors.

Actor Constance Wu, known for her roles in the film Crazy Rich Asians revealed she tried to end her own life after social media harassment and backlash.

In 2019, the actor’s tweets regarding Fresh Off The Boat’s renewal for season 6 were criticised and she was called ungrateful for the show’s success. Wu starred in the show and expressed disappointment regarding the renewal of the show in what she described as “careless tweets”.

She later clarified that her disappointment was due to having to pull out of another project she was “passionate about” due to the renewal.

Wu faced backlash for the tweets and said that the tweets had “ignited outrage and internet shaming got pretty severe”. She received direct messages from another Asian actor who told her she was “a blight on the Asian American community”. Wu tried to take her own life and a friend found her and rushed her to the emergency room.

Constance Wu talked about mental health and spoke about how it needs to be discussed openly. She mentioned that after the social media backlash, she felt alienated as many of her colleagues started avoiding her.

Suggested Reading: Rhea Chakraborty: Did she deserve the vicious social media campaign against her?

Social Media Harassment

Social media’s accessibility means that anybody with an internet connection can use their mobile phones to harass and attack actors and celebrities. Constant coverage of actors and their personal lives means that people believe they’re entitled to know everything about the celebrity and can attack them on social media.

Celebrities are put on a pedestal and when they fail to live up to the expectations of fans, they grow discontent and subject the celebrities to trolling and harassment. Fans of Constance Wu and her show Fresh Off The Boat reacted negatively to her tweets and she was ruthlessly harassed and trolled.

Wu was described as ungrateful after she expressed her feelings regarding the show and fans believed they had the right to insult her. Instead of chalking up Wu’s tweets as the result of a tough day, social media users leapt to barraging Wu with insults and judgement. It's about time people stopped feeling comfortable hurling abuses and derogatory comments toward celebrities just because social media makes it easy.

Impact Of Social Media Harassment On Mental Health

Social media harassment has a serious impact on a person’s psychological well-being. Many people, including celebrities like Wu often take a break from social media or quit social media for the sake of their mental health.

Celebrities are constantly in the spotlight, regardless of what they are doing. They cannot escape the paparazzi and media attention, even taking a trip to a grocery store or exiting the gym results in news reports and social media posts.

Due to social media, this invasion of privacy has escalated and a spotlight is constantly on social media. Every post, tweet, like, or comment by a celebrity is scrutinised and used as an excuse to harass them.

Actor and singer Selena Gomez had posted a TikTok skincare video, and users assumed it was making fun of her ex-boyfriend Justin Beiber’s wife Hailey. Gomez faced social media harassment for the completely unrelated video and apologised for it.

Being on social media means that everybody, especially celebrities has to consider every move they make. Even innocent skincare routine videos are scrutinised and criticised.

Views expressed are the author's own.