Kelly Marie Tran Claims She Was ‘Persecuted’ By ‘Star Wars’ Fans

Actress Kelly Marie Tran is in a much better place years after she wrapped up her role as Resistance mechanic Rose Tico in the “Star Wars” franchise.

The character first appeared in 2017’s “The Last Jedi” and made her last appearance in 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker,” which marks the last “Star Wars” movie to hit theaters.

Tran stepped away from social media in the wake of the backlash she faced at the time, but she is now speaking out about how she was “persecuted” by the fandom in an interview promoting her new movie, “The Wedding Banquet.”

While promoting her new movie, Tran addressed the criticism that she faced from “Star Wars” fans in the last two movies of the Skywalker Saga.

“I was already being ridiculed. There were comments about my race or comments about me being a woman. I already felt like I was being persecuted for those things,” Tran shared with Entertainment Weekly, noting how it affected her decision to publicly come out as a queer woman.

“Now I’m like, am I going to publicly come out? It was a complicated thing to think about,” she continued. “But I’m going to quote Lily Gladstone here, someone who I love dearly and I’ve learned so much from. She says that joy is an act of resistance. And I think that is really true.”

In fact, she has revealed that she ended up going to therapy in order to deal with the amount of negativity that she faced online. “I’m so glad that I can live authentically and no longer have that specific experience inform the decisions I’m making,” she said, adding, “And that is why we go to therapy! That is why we go to support groups!”

Tran had nothing but positive things to say about the cast and crew of her new movie. “When I see other people experiencing joy despite their communities being persecuted, it’s such a beautiful, brave, inspiring thing to witness,” she told the publication. “I don’t think that I could have done that without the support of my amazing cast and crew and friends.”

Tran had a unique experience being on a predominantly queer set for the romantic comedy, which is a remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 queer cult classic from “Fire Island” director Andrew Ahn.

“I’m honestly so sad that this press tour is almost over because I’m going to miss seeing all my friends so much,” Tran explained. “We all came to set and felt immediately comfortable to play with each other. As an adult, that’s such a hard thing to do with strangers, essentially. By the end of it, we were such a chosen family.”

Although she felt comfortable with her identity on set, she did not mean for it to come out in such a public way.

“I didn’t really mean to come out initially,” Tran explained. “Basically, this reporter from Vanity Fair, David Canfield, came to set when we were shooting the Korean wedding scene, and the first question he asked me was, ‘What are you the most excited about in regards to this project?’ And I said, ‘I’m so excited to tell a queer story as a queer person.’ And then I was like, wait, I don’t know if I want that in there. I haven’t thought about it.”

She described him as “so kind,” noting that he and producer Joe Pirro approached her about her decision. “[They] came up to me afterwards, and they both said that if you don’t want to release this information into the world, you have some time to think about it,” she recalled. “The article wasn’t coming out for a few months, so they were generous enough to give me the time to consider what it meant for me.”

Ultimately, Tran said that the environment on set was “one that was very supportive and very aware of what a coming out experience can be for a person.” She went on to say that working on the film “really felt like a warm hug.”

“We were constantly talking about how special this was and how this never happens,” Tran explained. “We were never on a crew that was primarily queer. At least for me, I haven’t had that experience before. I don’t know when it’ll happen again.”

She went on to decide, “I was like, why would I not share this part of myself? It felt dishonest, almost.”