If the story was “people are gossiping about Constance Wu’s diva ways,” I would have taken it all with a grain of salt. There are so many stories like that, always about actresses, and as we saw repeatedly with the #MeToo stories, the “she’s a diva” narrative is used by men to punish women they’ve harassed or assaulted, or women who are “mouthy,” or “don’t know their place.” That’s not the case with Constance Wu: she showed us, using her own social media, who she really is. She showed us how bratty and self-absorbed she is when she threw a tantrum about Fresh Off the Boat getting renewed for another season. My point? Because Constance showed us that side of herself – without warning, without prompt! – I feel like it’s open season for those kinds of “diva” stories. And I’ll believe ‘em too. From Page Six:
Constance Wu has garnered a reputation of being so difficult, she’s being dubbed “the most hated person” on her ABC show and is upstaging Jennifer Lopez and Cardi B in the diva department on their new movie “Hustlers.” Wu’s team is now pleading with her to “find some humility,” we’re told. The “FOTB” source said her Twitter snit fit was apt: “Constance is the most hated person on set. She is rude to everybody, but most of all the crew.”
An insider from the set of “Hustlers” said that while the actresses get along well, behind the scenes Wu is a way bigger diva than her more famous co-stars J.Lo and Cardi. Wu “is a pain in the f–king ass. She just won’t agree to do anything,” the source said. “She refuses to do interviews, she won’t have visitors on her sets. It’s like a cliché. She is very talented — but all signs are pointing to a difficult diva.”
A third insider who worked with Wu added, “She’s a total piece of work. She thinks it’s OK to treat people badly and say out loud whatever comes to her. She’s the new Katherine Heigl, and if she’s not careful, her movie career will go in the same direction — downhill.”
Yet another source on the set of “Crazy Rich Asians” added that Wu “was standoffish and arrived to talk to reporters in a separate van from the cast, who came together. It was clear they didn’t socialize . . . She was icy cold, leaving it to Henry Golding to charm everyone.” At a screening last summer, Wu rolled her eyes when co-star Michelle Yeoh spoke. Wu’s reps didn’t comment, but her team is begging her to be gracious, we’re told.
After Jimmy Kimmel slammed her at the upfronts (“Only on ABC is getting your show picked up the worst thing that can happen to you”), an insider said “she was told to find some humility. She was humiliated at the upfronts; everyone laughed at her.”
I’m including some photos of Constance on the set of Hustlers in New York from the past few months – they gave her some terrible bangs, my goodness. But yeah, I think she probably is awful. She’s shown us that she’s awful. And it’s painful, because we all had such high hopes, right? I was so excited to see her with J.Lo and Cardi in Hustlers, I was so excited to see a Chinese-American actress break through and succeed. But no, she’s probably this awful. We got to see it for ourselves.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
This makes me so sad, because I really want to like her. However, no amount of publicist scripted backtracking is going to undo her tantrum. If nothing else, it showed she has no self control and doesn’t give a toss about her castmate’s feelings. There are plenty of other non-white actresses trying to catch a break, who aren’t entitled jerks.
Me. too. I was really rooting for her. But after that twitter tantrum, she’s really shown herself to be an entitled fool.
I’ve heard she’s very serious on set; which can easily be mistaken for cold or aloof. And not wanting visitors is a personal preference. But rudeness can not be justified. The public tirade is just unheard of.
The irony is I know crew who’ve worked with JLo and they have nothing good to say about her but loved her coworkers. So if Constance is worse, she’s limbo-ing under a very low bar.
This is where I’m at with her too. I think that Constance is someone who is relatively blunt, and very sure of what she wants in life. Which we all know puts a target on a woman for being ‘difficult’. But if the rudeness is there, then that’s not okay at all.
I’ve always considered her to be very self-assured, but overall a nice enough person. So I don’t know how I feel about all of these stories that are coming out. It’s conflicting, for sure. There’s always the need for media to label a woman as being a b*tch when she’s not just passive or submissive … but if she is actually rude to everyone, then I guess some blowback is justified.
I agree with everything you’re saying… But her tweets and posts really showed her true colors. I think they show that she’s probably not a nice person and not really caring towards other people. And no matter how serious you are or how confident you are..it doesn’t excuse you from just being a shitty person.
@Erinn I see where you’re coming from – but, being reserved/private/quiet etc is one thing – and publicly lashing out because a show you’re on got renewed is entirely another kettle of fish. She basically threw a tantrum because she show’s renewal means she isn’t able to take another job – with no thought to her colleagues, who likely don;t have the same opportunities as her. I’m not saying she doesn’t have the right to want to move forward (of course she does!) but she doesn’t have to be ass about it…A nice person does not behave with no regard for the feelings of her colleagues (and presumably friends?)
I think she might have some insecurity that she masks with bombast or “aloofness” or a different persona. She broke out in her thirties and I remember that there was some shifting around of her age when she first broke through so it appeared she was in her mid twenties, so perhaps she feels a bit precarious or ill at ease with where she is and where she wants or wanted to be.
Yeah – those tweets really bugged me. I was surprised that she would be ballsy (or idiotic) enough to do that. I understand being disappointed but she has a regular, well paying job that plenty of other people would kill for. She’s GREAT in the show, too.
I guess I’m mainly surprised that the stories are coming out now, seemingly all of a sudden? I might have just missed some of the signs over the last few years – I follow her, and found her to be bold, but not specifically rude, I guess. But it could be now that the tweets are out there more people are speaking up about her behavior.
It bums me out. I don’t doubt that some of it is that the media loves to stomp down confident women – but clearly her behavior has caused a lot of the issues here, and that’s never okay.
I haven’t been impressed with some of public comments that she’s made, and the fact that she showed up with Georgina Chapman added to my opinion that she’s tone deaf. When she went on her Twitter rant, it just confirmed to me that she stinks. Then her co-worker on CRA liked the tweet saying that this behavior wasn’t unusual for her.
What’s that saying? If it looks like a duck, talks like a duck, and walks like a duck, it’s probably a duck?
I do think she’s a talented actress and I really liked her on FOTB, although I haven’t watched for awhile.
The stories might be coming out now on blogs and in the press, but here in LA people have been talking about this for awhile, especially after CRA. So many friends or friends of friends involved on the show or movie. I heard she was terrible to everyone (including Henry and Michelle, which was mentioned by Page 6). Michelle is a legend so Constance really needs to eat some humble pie.
Alissa – the Georgina thing was the first thing that I really was like “wtf” about – then we had the Fresh Off the Boat tweets – before that I hadn’t taken much notice to statements she’s made I guess.
Jumpstart – yeah, I’m SO far removed – I’m a maritimer in Canada haha – so I definitely don’t have any intell other than what I find on this site. That does make sense though, and it’s so so stupid and rude of her.
If you’re insulting people, it’s easy to determine if your just serious or just a jerk.
The bit about being more serious or focused than other cast members is absurd. Do we think Michelle Yeoh isn’t serious about her craft, to the point that Constance can’t ride in a van with her?
I’d heard things about the CRA set from very reliable sources, but the stories were nameless. Now it makes sense.
Her nice and pleasant image is really gone, right? And since she is a woman, better said, a woman from a minority, it won’t be forgotten as, should I say, Reese Whiterspoon police rant was.
Or Julia Robert’s ‘A Low Vera’ tshirt.
Reese had the support of Hollywood because everyone she’s worked with loves her. I think in many ways she’s the opposite of Constance when on set. The reason the public forgave her? Yeah, she’s white.
Reese’s drunken rant was embarrassing and privileged for sure, but I don’t think it’s comparable to what Constance did. Throwing a public tantrum about basically being a successful actress with a primetime TV show is a whole different ball game. What she did is comparable to Katherine Hiegel and we know what happened to her…Dog food commercials or something like that.
It was cat litter 😄
And now she’s horribly miscast in Suits. Whomever is doing her hair and makeup on that show is NOT her friend.
Another factor is timing. Constance’s was terrible. When that happened with Reese (and make no mistake it was disgusting) she had already opened Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama, and the Oscar for Walk the Line. Julia had a million hits under her belt (and her Oscar run). Constance is not at that level yet. That’s a problem in getting studios (and the public) to brush this aside. It’s weird but true.
Exactly. She needs to be reminded that that privilege doesn’t extend to her. People won’t forget or forgive.
Reese was drunk, pretty quickly apologized, took responsibility for her actions, and hasn’t done anything similar since (AFAIK).
People should get the chance to redeem themselves from their mistakes, and I hope someday Constance realizes how wrong she was here, and gets the same opportunity.
Yep. She’s also pretty universally acknowledged as being a very smart and sweet women – to both her coworkers, her crew, and pretty much everyone. She’s not someone that encounters a lot of whispers about her being bratty.
IMO, everyone has acted like a bit of an ass when drunk before. I did hear rumors that she had a bit of a drinking problem, but haven’t heard that for a long time either.
She has the talent as an actress and as a producer that she makes big money, and she’s supposedly extremely pleasant to work with. That’s why she was “forgiven.” And saying “Do you know who I am?!” is not the same as going on an expletive-ridden rant about your show getting picked up. Especially when you’ve JUST started to break through. And her “believe women” comment was so tone deaf I can’t handle it.
I think one big difference is that both Julia and Reese behaved like a**holes in their private lives, whereas Constance behaved like an ass in a professional capacity (in that her tweets were in reference to her job). Of course there are PLENTY of people who have gotten away with much worse that CW, but I don’t think Reese/Julia are fair comparisons.
This. I am old enough to remember Robert Downey Jr’s druggie days. Everyone always wondered how he kept working. The answer was that he always showed up to work ready to go before the camera and perform. It was when he got arrested and was facing actual jail time, which could shut a movie down, that his career suffered.
Well he couldn’t get any movies by the time his last arrest was made. He was on Ally McBeal then. His character was abruptly written out after that last arrest which was a shame because he was good!
I think it’s probably more accurate to compare this situation with Katherine Heigl, while Heigl struggled for a few years she seems to have recovered. Will Constance be given the same opportunity? I would suggest she study Heigl and what redeemed her finally.
Has she recovered? She’s been on a few shows that got cancelled quickly. Is she still on Suits? I know that made some noise but I don’t even know if that show is still on, or who watches it.
She got a few TV shows over the years and is on suits now, certainly not the career she was projected to have prior to her comments but she is still relatively successful
Suits is still on but they are filming (maybe just wrapped?) the final season. So she was only on for 2 seasons. One interesting thing-I follow all of the Suits cast on SM and they NEVER have her in their posts, and she never has them in hers. They really seem like a family, except for her.
She’s shown that she has this side to her, but it won’t just be seen as a negative side to her personality. It’ll be seen as all there is to her, and every future negative story about her will be believed (some true, some not). It will be dragged into any and everything concerning her. Her reputation is ruined and she will likely be ‘cancelled’. There won’t be second chances, or waiting for her to evolve. It’s a shame because on the one hand, she did it to herself (and there’s probably some truth to the rumors about her personality), but on the other hand, there’s little room for anyone who isn’t a talented middle-aged/ older white dude to be viewed as more than their insensitive/jerk moments.
I think the difference is private vs. professional life. If people want to be embarrassing and petty in their personal life, that’s one thing. It might taint public perception for a while, but it won’t necessarily impact their careers, especially if they’re known to be professional/a decent person most of the time. I am a HUGE supporter of minority-led art, but I truly don’t think this issue is a matter of race.
What Constance did was directly related to her career. I could honestly look past a few stupid tweets that she sent out in a moment where she wasn’t thinking clearly. But to then go to her TV show’s Instagram and write “Dislike” in the comments section???? That is the point where it was clear she was deliberately pitching a fit and wanted people to notice. I don’t know if she thought people would get behind her or what, but it was such a bad move and really disrespectful to her colleagues.
Being horrible to your coworkers is such a NO from me–that’s the bar that counts IMO in these convos. So yeah.
Exactly. What is the point of an article like this? Women of color aren’t wrong when they point out they are judged in ways and degrees white women are not. Other websites have moved on, why not this one? For some foul woman hating anonymous sources?
I don’t see how legitimate criticism of her behaviour is wrong, she should be called out just like Katherine Heigl was. Also how do you know the sources who question her behaviour on set aren’t women?
Not gonna lie… I never really understood why everyone raved about Constance Wu. I liked her in FOTB and CRA but I never really saw her as anything other than a run of the mill talent. Her energy reminds me of Dakota Johnson.
I normally don’t believe most of the diva stories I read…. but Constance exposed herself and brought this all down on her own. So, yeah I believe them. Its a shame given what she was doing for other Asian actors and actresses, but frankly there are so many other talented people out there who aren’t assholes.
The cast of Crazy rich Asians is so talented. I thought she was the weakest performance there.
I have mixed feelings on this.
I feel like her tantrum showed what a tone deaf, entitled, ungrateful brat she was and I didn’t buy the argument that it was okay for her to do because men get to do the same thing with no backlash. Being an asshole is being an asshole and she should have read the room better and vented to her publicist, not on the internet where everyone, including everyone else who works their asses off on her show, could see it and see their work being dismissed. She shouldn’t have tried to justify her rant by making into a MeToo issue, which it most certainly was not.
Having said THAT, the fact that there are suddenly diva stories to tell about her seems convenient. I heard next to nothing about her before CRA (I never watched FOTB) and all the press from the movie all seemed pretty positive, so the fact that everyone apparently has known what a jerk she is this whole time but was apparently too afraid to say anything for some reason, smacks of retaliation from ABC by planting stories, which isn’t cool if that is the case. That isn’t to say it couldn’t all be true, but the timing is suspect.
I think that there were probably already stories about how difficult CW was floating around, but that she wasn’t a big enough star for anyone to care too much about it. Sure, she starred in CRA and FOTB, but I would consider Gemma a bigger breakout star from CRA than CW. I thought CRA was cute, but I didn’t love it because I thought CW’s acting was a bit bland. So I don’t think people were too afraid to say anything, just that there was not enough interest until now for people to care what CW is really like.
Maybe we didn’t hear because people didn’t really care that much.Is she big enough for people to care whether or not she’s a diva? Everybody knows about J.Lo and Mariah because they’re stars. I thought Constance was the weakest link on CRA. She’s funny on FOTB, but I the kids are the stars. Meh, her tantrum just brought attention to her and people were like, yeah, no surprise.
“the fact that everyone apparently has known what a jerk she is this whole time but was apparently too afraid to say anything for some reason, smacks of retaliation from ABC by planting stories,”
I can personally attest this is not true (stories being retaliation from ABC). Her behavior was known by those that worked with her, it was just the general public that was unaware.
Doubt it was planted. From someone’s post here, it seems like it’s been insider industry knowledge for awhile. Only now that she exposed herself the general public got to see it.
These stories about her are NOT coming out of nowhere. In LA especially in the Asian American community people have been talking about it. A friend of mine knew her before FOTB and was appalled when she visited her on set because of how she acted.
I wonder how she treated the kids in FOTB. Those kids come off as so nice and cute.
She threw a very public tantrum on social media and there’s not a way to walk that back, sorry. She literally went to her show’s IG post and commented “Ugh.” So that wasn’t an ill-advised tweet from her own account, that was purposeful.
Women absolutely are held to different standards, and minority women further still, but that was tacky and rude AF.
Don’t roll your eyes at Michelle Yeoh, she is a legend!! I am half Asian and I am perfectly fine with Wu going the Heigl route.
The fact that she does not treat the crew nicely is my breaking point, in my book she is cancelled and I was really looking forward to CRA2 and CRA3 too.
Michelle Yeoh is wonderful. And I agree that treating the crew poorly is a sure sign that she’s full of herself.
Exactly – no one gets to roll their eyes at Michelle Yeoh. Respect the legend!
If she’s worse than J Lo, that’s really bad. I know people who’ve worked with J Lo & she’s terrible to crew. The list of demands for her suite when she’s making appearances is longer than anyone else’s, including much bigger names & talents. She also cannot be addressed directly by anyone below director level. She even pulls that c**p on planes when the first class flight attendant offers blankets, refreshments, etc. Gotta go through her flunky assistant.
Wu’s career will go downhill fast unless she learns to be a bit “nice” & to not make a scene when she finds out she’ll still have a job next season.
Depends on what they mean by rude – does she tell people off/shouts at them or is she just reserved and doesn’t talk to anybody? I’ll reserve judgement for now
I agree – people work in different ways, and I have no issue with someone being quiet, reserved, not socializing with others, etc. That’s very different than being rude and entitled.
I suspect there’s a kernel of truth to some of these stories about CW, but people are jumping on the bandwagon and stuff like Page 6 is eager to trash her because it’s a big story right now, so there’s probably exaggeration there.
Read her tweets. There is no other way to interpret that.
Never heard of her
I’m hoping this is a wake up call and she gets her act together. 2 more CRA movies and another season of FOTB gives her some runway to turn her reputation around. I was listening to Lainey gossip’s podcast and they said she needs a self-deprecating talk show tour. I agree, and it sounds like she should make a concerted effort to be friendly to the crew at her shows. Maybe she’ll leak some stories to that effect. I’m a really quiet person in new situations who sometimes comes off as standoffish or rude (it doesn’t help that I suck at remembering names), so I’m sympathetic towards people who get bad reputations for just not being friendly enough, but the twitter meltdown was something else. She needs serious image rehab.
Look,
I think that what she did was bratty. But maybe she reacted like this because she knows as an Asian artist, and I think that her family is from Taiwan?, that she might not get additional opportunities and she really wants to strike while the iron is hot??? She didn’t do anything to us and people are so disgusted and ready to throw her in the trash. I wasn’t super into her when I saw FOTB but i was rooting for all of the cast for CRA…well, maybe except for Awkwafina because she bugged me. Personally I’m going to wait and see if she f*cks up again. Unfortunately for her, I’m not running sh*t in H-wood.
So you react that way in private, not on Twitter and Instagram. Come on.
I just stated that what she did was bratty. And I get that we all come here so that we can be sanctimonious and feel better about our non-famous and or shitty lives but give me a break, she didn’t kill anyone or utter racial slurs… While she might have displayed a shitty attitude about her job, cast shade and been insensitive towards the cast and crew of FOTB, and be deluded about her own level of talent, she’s certainly not Mel Gibson.
I just don’t think she gets a pass because she’s a POC? No one’s saying she’s Mel Gibson. It’s more akin to, say, David Caruso or Katherine Heigl.
@Renee2, that does kind of put things in perspective.
It sounds like she deserved those awful bangs. Maybe the hair people hate her, too.
This is disappointing. And someone needs to sit her down and have a real talk convo with her. Because as a WOC acting this way – literally NO ONE will have her back and no one will defend her. Not that they should but when you are a WOC in the entertainment industry people are looking for excuses and reasons not to give you opportunities. So why would you hand them a nice handful of them to use? Katherine Heigl is a nice example but Katherine Heigl is a white actress who still gets works. By the time FOTB is over and they have shot CRA 2 and word has gotten around about her (which clearly it already has) the work WILL dry up. And she will have no one to blame but herself.
My friends husband worked in the lighting dept on the set of Hustlers. He said that Constance was the biggest diva on set! Was rude & made everyone wait all the time. Cardi B also made the set wait a crazy amount of time (she was 4 hours late one day & then retreated to her trailer for another 4 hours). He said everyone else was great though- J Lo & Lizzo especially!
Lizzo is in this movie, I love her.
the truth always comes out! ironic that she was the one to originally spill the beans on herself, and not surprising that others back this narrative up.
Sometimes it can be really hard to adjust the “new found fame” you get. Hopefully she realizes that this can all come crashing down at any moment and becomes more humble for what she has.
She wasn’t a teen sensation. She became famous late in life so you’d think she would appreciate the job more.
Anyone having this many accounts arriving at the same conclusion should be put in her place. And the only way a diva will receive messages is for her itinerary to be an empty cavernous black hole. Shame on this kind of despicable, ungrateful behaviour. No piece of work in the entertainment industry is put forth without sacrifices and ridiculous hard work from hundreds. I challenge this woman to release something entirely on her own.
Don’t forget that she wore marchesa at the Met Gala. I cancelled her at this exact moment.
Yup. That was her 1st mistake. Her tweet was the 2nd one. She needs to keep a low profile, because now she’s in the crosshairs.
The whole thing generally made me sad. FOTB is one of the only shows I watch. I was excited for CRA, but it turned out to me “meh” in my opinion.
They must also hate her on this movie because she got the worst hair and makeup. She looks like what people think asians should look.
Rolling her eyes at Michelle Yeoh? Honey please!
It’s so easy to junk a woman’s reputation and so hard to dent a man’s (I’m looking at you, Justice Drunk Assaulter of Women).
Making general judgments like this does not help anyone. As others have commented above, other female actresses have been able to bounce back after bad press, and many men have bene cancelled.
She’s right though. It’s not a comfortable thing to notice, but both the standards and what the ‘cancelled’ status are used as excuses for are different.
Seriously most people should rethink what they are about to tweet. I end up erasing what I’m about to tweet half the time. Do not bite the hand that feeds you. She can be upset she can’t take this job due to FOTB’s schedule but privately rage about it. That is what a journal is for! Do not publicly air that, that’s basic common sense. She’s had one worldwide hit and she thinks she can just say whatever she wants? While I thought CRA was a fun movie I didn’t think her acting was super amazing.
When will actors and actresses learn that they are not irreplaceable in Hollywood, no matter how much success they’ve already had? It’s an extremely competitive industry. Your employers can always find someone to replace you, especially if you’re difficult.
First, she’s Taiwanese American. A quick Google search would have made that clear. You can’t just label someone ‘Chinese’ and think it’s good enough. THAT is hella wrong and kinda racist.
Secondly, why are her accomplishments being 100% ignored here? I’m talking about her WORK with women’s groups and that time she publicly called out and trashed Casey Affleck over his Oscar nomination. You know, that white man who was way more powerful, rich and supported than her low rung ABC show Asian American self? The same time people were outraged but not a single white actor/actress called him out. Brie Larson gets well deserved praise for her reaction to Affleck’s win, but it’s interesting how few remember Wu’s blasting of his nomination. It was a huge professional risk for her to do that. I wonder why that is?
But I guess all of that means nothing because she was an asshole that one time. That’s the story now, right? Nothing else matters. Oh, but you were SO rooting for her! But she let you down, FOREVER. If you’re some of the first OFF the bandwagon, then it’s fair to say you were never really ON it to begin with.
That’s the thing, she wasn’t “an asshole that one time.” It’s been an on-going issue for a while now, it’s just that the general public wasn’t aware. She brought the mess into the open by repeatedly making a fool of herself on social media.
I don’t know why we are splitting hairs over this (unless it’s political) but she’s Chinese. She speaks the same language most of us do. And it’s not racist. I will gladly answer to Chinese and I’m proud of my roots (again it has nothing to do with politics). Thousands of years of culture folks! Now if someone called us “c—k” that’s considered racist.
She was unprofessional I don’t care what she does for charity. That is totally a separate issue and should not be combined to give her a pass. Katie Heigel is a friend to pets and animals but she’s horrible to the cast and crew. That doesn’t get a pass from me.
I’ve posted this before and I’m repeating it now – would you send an email like that to your office? No? Then yes she deserves all the frowns here. Also if you treat your coworkers like shit you can bet HR will be coming after you (again nothing to do with race or gender. Everything to do with being an asshole).
You don’t get a free pass for being a dick and based on what people are doing a slow leak on, it appears she’s a horrible coworker. I judge by action not by whether she’s part of the sisterhood or clan.
She really is self-sabotaging. If you dislike your job, go to your boss or manager, explain your position and try to work it out. Many actors have had successful TV and movie careers at the same time. Allison Janney managed to show up to “Mom” the morning after winning an Oscar! If you must rant publicly, at least try to do it anonymously. And don’t comment “dislike” on an Instagram post celebrating the show’s renewal. This is basic common sense.
As a former costumer and current executive, I really hate it when “talent” snubs the crew or talks down to them (if they talk to them at all). You don’t have to be BFFs, but like any work place, it doesn’t take much to at least be civil. Everyone has their role in making a production successful; just because their faces aren’t seen, doesn’t mean their work is any less significant than the actors’.
I COMPLETELY agree with you. I thought her performance was like any other female lead in a romcom that’s never been nominated for a Golden Globe.
All you have to do is watch some YouTube videos of CRA cast interviews and you can see that she is not friendly with the cast. She is very stand offish and looks annoyed most of the time. Press junkets are part of the job and she acts like she is above it.
it’s really sad when a woman in her 40s acts like a 12 year old child negative attention seeking.
*if she’s not in her 40s…sorry she looks it and may need to change her moisturizer and drink more water.
I feel bad for Katherine Heigl. Her name is always thrown around whenever someone is ungrateful or unpleasant on set. I even read comments using her name as verb, “heigled her career”, “been heigling on the set”. Kate maybe difficult but she is no Michael Weatherly. No one on GA or Knocked Up defended her.
Why would Knocked Up defend her when she openly dissed the movie that put her name on the map? On GA she openly criticized the writers (yes the deer story was stupid but really how many of us would openly diss our managers and live to tell about it?). Her mom was horrible too. Mommy basically gave the crew a hard time (she yelled at craft services – really the food people?).
I agree that she went about it the wrong way. And she came off terribly by doing it publicly, especially in regards to GA. But really she didn’t say anything untrue about Knocked Up imho. And I say that as a fan of Apatow (Knocked Up and 40 Year Old Virgin were inexplicably two of my faves in college…and I was a film student. So, even worse judgement on my part). He’s evolved somewhat but as king of the bro comedy, his movies did no favors for women. And maybe someone high profile saying something is not terrible? Could she have said it with more tact, sure. Someone who relies on PR and Hollywood connections to get work (much less good work) should’ve known better.
But, yeah, her mom is supposed to be terrible and did not help her case. So if she’s unprofessional and difficult (different than having opinions) on set or if her mother is on her behalf, then that’s a whole different ballgame.
I’m not familiar with Ms. Wu but I’ve heard about her. She has a ‘reputation’.
To be honest, I can’t help feeling a bit sorry for her. Maybe the success of her ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ went to her head, but for a second, she forgot that she’s a woman of colour and that might be a fatal error on her part.
She wouldn’t be the first actress to behave badly. She probably wasn’t the only actress who behaved badly THIS WEEK. But she made the mistake of forgetting that WOC don’t get second chances. And she also made the mistake of alienating the people who WOULD have had her back, her co-stars, who are probably the few people who understand how difficult it is to be an actor of colour.
We’re probably going to hear more stories about how ‘difficult’ she is. She put herself under the spotlight. Wu is a grown woman so she’s going to have to pay for what she did. It’s probably not fair that a White actress could go on one of the late night shows, cry her eyes out, and be forgiven. But Constance Wu should have known that life isn’t fair.
Yep spot on. Not many second chances handed out to WOC. That’s too bad. She should take a page from Michelle Yeoh. She always gets hired.
I heard from a friend who handles social media/publicity, and Wu apparently is a total piece of work.
This whole thing kind of makes me wonder how Katherine Heigl feels about this. Her name isn’t the only one being used as an example of a cautionary tale for Constance Wu but it seems to be the one that’s being used the most.
it’s not a surprise to me she is a brat. I saw it coming when she made that comment about not wanting to do superhero franchise movies and looking down on actors who do them. When most actors, specially those considered minorities, would kill for that opportunity and job security.
Man, I just feel sad about this whole thing. And annoyed. I wish it wasn’t such a big thing, but she made it into a big thing! She really could have just expressed her anger/disappointment/sadness to her close friends and family. NOT to literally fucking everyone, on the internet. Like… I felt some sympathy for her, but damn she’s 37! Ain’t she got a bestie by now that she can text about her shitty job? That’s what everyone else in the world does! Damn!
Also, of course I don’t think FOTB is a shitty job. Just saying that it really would have taken as much effort (or even less) to text a friend vs texting on MULTIPLE social media platforms how disappointed she was about losing out on something she was hoping for (which, also, no one knew that’s why she was reacting negatively so she was basically vague-tweeting which is such a 16-year-old-on-Myspace-kind-of-thing to do!) Ugh. It just came off so childish and dumb and in very poor taste. So woe is me. Come on Constance… you ain’t gotta rep all Asians (cuz that’s dumb and old-fashioned), but represent *yourself* better!
This isn’t always the case and some veteran performers are nightmares to work with (John Mellencamp was a no eye-contact person when I worked on something he was involved in) but when I was doing TV and film, it seemed more of the “up and comers” exhibited the bad behavior than the seasoned stars.
Newcomers or people just getting a big break can get a bit of success and a bit of power and they see how far they can stretch it – whether they know they’re just testing it or they truly don’t know the limit. People who have been successful for a while have either tried it and have been put in their place by someone who knows or just realized it’s easier to be respectful and professional. Bc only really exceptional/powerful people will survive a bad reputation.
If she hadn’t have lashed out publicly in more than one place (her own twitter and the show’s insta) I would’ve had sympathy. I’ve seen interviews with her over the years talking about what kind of acting she wants to do and how money isn’t the thing she wants and her craft and creativity are more important (which can sound pretentious to each her own w/e). So it’s not surprising that she isn’t happy on a sitcom anymore even if it made her famous and made other roles she actually wants possible. You see it happen with actors on super successful shows all the time (and often they don’t actually find success after anyway). But with this, idk how they’d continue the show without Jessica Huang, so it’s only good for her if she goes. And you don’t want her to be miserable (which is dramatic) but also, she had no thought in her tantrum for the cast and crew who depend on that show in an unstable industry. I would like to end this essay by saying I can’t believe she was so surprised/upset bc that show is a decent performer for ABC.