Kelly Marie Tran Star Wars Experience Was Embarrassing Breakup

“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,” Tran said of the online bullying. “Maybe they just don’t have the imagination to understand that there are different types of people living in the world.” Related ‘Solo’ Fans Shouldn’t Expect a Sequel: It’s Not a ‘Lucasfilm Priority,’ Says Ron Howard Rian Johnson Wanted to Give ‘The Last Jedi’ a ‘Hell of an Ending:’ ‘That’s What Makes a Movie a Movie’ Related The 225 Best Horror Movies of All Time The 15 Best Vampire Movies Ever Made
The focus on Tran’s harassment exploded after she was spotted deleting her Instagram posts (the comment sections were filled with racist and sexist posts), but she told THR, “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. It was basically me being like, ‘Oh, this isn’t good for my mental health. I’m obviously going to leave this.’” Tran also turned down several projects in between the end of her time on “Star Wars” and signing on to voice the title character in “Raya and the Last Dragon.” “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 said. “I realized, I didn’t know how I felt anymore. And I didn’t remember why I was in this in the first place.” Tran continued, “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 an interview with IndieWire’s Kate Erbland, Tran summarized her new mindset when it comes to summing up her “Star Wars” experience: “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.” “Raya and the Last Dragon” will hit select theaters and streaming via Disney+ Premier Access on Friday, March 5.