Kelly Marie Tran breaks silence about online harassment over Star Wars

Kelly Marie Tran is breaking her silence about online harassment months after deleting her Instagram account.

In an essay published Tuesday in The New York Times, the Star Wars: The Last Jedi actress wrote it "wasn't their words, it's that I started to believe them."

Tran deleted her Instagram account in June.

The bullying seemed to confirm what growing up as a woman and a person of colour had taught her, Tran wrote: that she belonged "in margins and spaces."

She started blaming herself and felt brainwashed into believing her existence was "limited to the boundaries of another person's approval," she continued.

"I want to live in a world where people of all races, religions, socioeconomic classes, sexual orientations, gender identities and abilities are seen as what they have always been: human beings. This is the world I want to live in. And this is the world that I will continue to work toward."

She concluded: "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 will reprise her role as Rose Tico in next year's Star Wars: Episode IX.