There are popular film franchises, and then there’s Star Wars. Generations were brought up on the galaxy far, far away thanks to decades of movies and TV content (which are streaming with a Disney+ subscription). This level of fandom makes the Star Wars movies hugely successful, but there is sometimes a dark side to this devotion. Actress Kelly Marie Tran faced racist online while portraying Rose Tico, but she recently explained how that helped her grow as a person.
Tran made her debut in the franchise in Rian Johnson’s subversive entry The Last Jedi. That project was polarizing, and the Raya and the Last Dragon star got a ton of racist and sexist hate. Tran eventually left social media as a result, while also getting into therapy. While promoting her new movie The Wedding Banquet, she spoke to Business Insider about how that experience has influenced her personal development. In her words:
I wouldn’t be who I am today without it. Going through the therapy and counseling got me to a point where now I get to make art celebrating the parts of myself that I was taught to be ashamed of. That I was persecuted for.