Constance Wu accuses 'Fresh Off The Boat' producer of sexual harassment and intimidation: 'I kept my mouth shut for a really long time'

• Constance Wu discussed her new memoir, "Making a Scene," at The Atlantic Festival on Friday.
• Wu said a "Fresh Off the Boat" producer sexually harassed her during the show's first two seasons.

Constance Wu accused a "Fresh Off the Boat" producer of sexual harassment and intimidation during the show's first two seasons.

Wu spoke about the accusations Friday at The Atlantic Festival while promoting her upcoming memoir, "Making a Scene." Wu, 40, became a household name in 2015 for portraying Jessica Huang on the six-season ABC sitcom.

Wu said she was initially "resistant" to including the claims in her memoir but eventually did with the encouragement of her publisher.

"I eventually realized it was important to talk about because I did have a pretty traumatic experience my first couple years on that show, and nobody knew about it because that show was historic for Asian Americans," Wu said.

"It was the only show on network television in over 20 years to star Asian Americans, and I did not want to sully the reputation of the one show we had representing us," Wu added. "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."

Wu felt she couldn't speak out about the alleged harassment and intimidation until the show became a success.

"After the first two seasons, once it was a success, once I was no longer scared of losing my job – that's when I was able to start saying 'no' to the harassment. 'No' to the intimidation from this particular producer," Wu said.

The "Crazy Rich Asians" actress said she struggled with the aftermath of the alleged harassment.

"I thought, 'You know what? I handled it, nobody has to know. I don't have to stain this Asian American producer's reputation. I don't have to stain the reputation of the show," Wu said. "But the thing is, bad feelings don't go away just because you will them to. They are inevitably going to come out somewhere."

In the same conversation, Wu addressed a controversial tweet from 2019 in which she complained about the show being renewed for a new season. Wu said she made the tweet in reference to the alleged harassment on set.

"I made some very profane, reckless tweets that sort of ignited this whole pile-on of hatred towards me because I just had a hit movie, 'Crazy Rich Asians,' so it looked really bad from the outside. Like, 'Oh, she thinks she's this big movie star," Wu said. "When really, I wanted to have a fresh slate where I didn't have to start a show with all these memories of abuse."

Representatives for Wu and ABC did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

"Fresh Off the Boat" aired for five years before being canceled in 2020. The series also starred Randall Park, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen.

"Making a Scene" will be available on October 4 under its publisher, Scribner, according to The New York Times.