Kelly Marie Tran is getting candid about why she walked away from social media. The actress made history in 2017 when she became the first woman of color to lead a "Star Wars" film after being cast as Rose Tico in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" but the glory was short-lived. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Tran spoke about wiping her social media and withdrawing from the spotlight after being subjected to racist and sexist comments online following the film's release.
"What’s interesting to me about working in this industry is that certain things become so public, even if you don’t really mean them to be, [like] the succession of events in which I left the internet for my own sanity," she explained. "It was basically me being like, 'Oh, this isn’t good for my mental health. I’m obviously going to leave this.'"
Speaking about the harassment, Tran said she felt the need to take a time out. Her screen time was significantly less in 2019's "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" and this was linked to her need for a break.
"It felt like I was just hearing the voice of my agents and my publicity team and all of these people telling me what to say and what to do and how to feel," Tran recalled.
"And I realized I didn’t know how I felt anymore. And I didn’t remember why I was in this in the first place. Any time that happens, I have to close up shop and go away for a while and really interact in the real world — read books and journal and go on hikes and look at a tree and remind myself that there was a fire that burned inside of me before 'Star Wars,' before any of this."
In 2018, Tran wrote an emotional essay for The New York Times addressing the bullying. The star admitted she started to believe what people were saying about her — that she "belonged in margins and spaces, valid only as a minor character in their lives and stories."
The words reinforced her childhood belief that she "didn't belong," Tran wrote.
"I want to live in a world where children of color don’t spend their entire adolescence wishing to be white. I want to live in a world where women are not subjected to scrutiny for their appearance, or their actions, or their general existence," she explained.
"I want to live in a world where people of all races, religions, socioeconomic classes, sexual orientations, gender identities and abilities are seen as what they have always been: human beings."
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Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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