In a recently published New York Times op-ed, Tran has opened up about the 'self-hate' the trolls caused. "It wasn't their words, it's that I started to believe them," the actress, who is Vietnamese-American, said. "Their words seemed to confirm what growing up as a woman and a person of colour already taught me: that I belonged in margins and spaces, valid only as a minor character in their lives and stories. And those words awakened something deep inside me-a feeling I thought I had grown out of."
According to Tran, "Their words reinforced a narrative I had heard my whole life: that I was 'other,' that I didn't belong, that I wasn't good enough, simply because I wasn't like them. And that feeling, I realize now, was, and is, shame, a shame for the things that made me different, a shame for the culture from which I came from. And to me, the most disappointing thing was that I felt it at all."
"You might know me as Kelly. I am the first woman of colour to have a leading role in a Star Wars movie. I am the first Asian woman to appear on the cover of Vanity Fair. My real name is Loan. And I am just getting started," Tran concluded.
On a related note, Tran will reprise her role as Rose Tico in next year's 'Star Wars: Episode IX'.