Kelly Marie Tran has opened up about the “fear and anxiety” she experienced triggered by the torrent of abuse she went through after Star Wars: The Last Jedi was released.
Last year, Tran deleted her Instagram posts after receiving “months of harassment” online. The 30-year-old actress had received racist abuse including one comment that read “Ching Chong Wing Tong is a dumbass fucking character Disney made and is a stupid, retarded, and autistic love interest for Finn. She better die in the coma because she is a dumbass bitch.”
Tran then broke her silence on the issue in a piece for The New York Times titled ‘I Won’t Be Marginalized by Online Harassment’.
Appearing on
" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yahoo’s Bold Series, the Asian American actress, who will return in the upcoming Star Wars saga iteration The Rise Of The Skywalker expressed how important writing the article was to her.
“It’s really important to realize that, regardless of who you are and what you’re in and what you’re associated with, being able to be honest and vulnerable and sort of take care of yourself mentally is a very … wildly important thing,” she said.
“It’s something I didn’t understand until I got into this,” she admitted. “Reminding yourself that you are not alone and it is OK. These are the biggest things.”
Tran added that speaking about her “fear and anxiety” was the best way to combat it.
“Anytime you are sort of confronted with a situation that increases your fear and your anxiety if you allow that voice to be silent and if you allow yourself to sort of isolate yourself, I think it gets worse. So the best thing for me was just being honest and talking about it.”
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be released on 19 December 2019.
Author
Joanna Tran
Born in Taiwan, Joan moved to the UK at an early age. Struggling to understand her identity and her place in society, Joan keeps a low personal profile but is keen to share her thoughts with the wider world.
