Kelly Marie Tran Describes 'Star Wars' Fan Harassment Like An "Embarrassingly Horrible Breakup"

Kelly Marie Tran's trajectory as it relates to Star Wars is one that has resulted in her reflecting a lot about the experience. She starred in Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi as Rose Tico, whose sister Paige Tico dies heroically in battle. Rose, along with John Boyega's character Finn, goes on a side mission to Canto Bight in an attempt to gain an advantage against the First Order as it hunts down the Resistance. During this mission, Rose tries teaching Finn about the ugly side of wealthy and lavish places in the galaxy. This subplot drew a lot of criticism, and as a result, the character of Rose, as well as Kelly Marie Tran herself in some circles, became the target of online ridicule.

As the first woman of color to have a lead role in a Star Wars film, Tran found it very discouraging when she was met with many racist and sexist comments. This caused her to deactivate her social media. And when it came to the follow-up film, Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker, Kelly Marie Tran had significantly less screentime, as Rose Tico was written into a more minor role. Some viewers perceived this as an answer to the fans, and the decreased screentime was met with a lot of criticism.

Recently, The Hollywood Reporter interviewed Tran in time for the release of the new Disney animated film Raya and the Last Dragon, in which Tran voices the titular character. This weekend is the film's debut in select theaters, as well as via premiere access purchase on Disney+. The topic of Star Wars came up during the interview, Tran said that the experience of joining Star Wars and then being met with fan harassment felt like she “fell in love very publicly and then very publicly had an embarrassingly horrible breakup.” During the ordeal, she relied on close friends whom she had known since before her stardom, from an all-Asian American female improv troupe called Number One Son. She also decided to go to therapy, where she learned the following:

"If someone doesn't understand me or my experience, it shouldn't be my place to have to internalize their misogyny or racism or all of the above. Maybe they just don't have the imagination to understand that there are different types of people living in the world."

For a time, Tran was out of the spotlight, trying to recover from what she had experienced:

"I left. I said no to a lot of things. 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. 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. And I needed to find that again."

In a recent interview with IndieWire, Tran also had the following to say:

“I think there’s always good and bad things about an experience. But the thing that I want to keep with me is that looking for the good is the most important thing.”

Written By Steven Shinder

Source(s): The Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire

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