Photo: Suni Lee/ instagram
The formerDancing with the Starscompetitorwrote back in the comment section about the backlash she said she has received since becoming social-media official with Smith — a football player at the University of Southern California — over the holidays.
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“This makes me so happy,” Lee wrote. “I’ve received so much hate😭 they support me when it’s beneficial for them never when it comes to my happiness. thank you!💗”
Lee has been outspoken about the importance and responsibility of being a barrier-breaker, especially for other members of the Hmong community.
“Just be an inspiration to other Hmong people [means] a lot to me too,” she previously told PEOPLE.
Lee also revealed last year that she was the target of an apparently racistpepper spray attackduring a night out with friends.
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She told PopSugar that the incident happened when she and a group of girlfriends, who are all Asian, had been waiting for their ride home during a night out.
People in a passing car began yelling racist slurs at them, she said. The passengers told the women to “go back to where they came from” and someone inside the car sprayed Lee’s arm with pepper spray.
Suni Lee/ instagram
Frozen in the moment, Lee said: “I was so mad, but there was nothing I could do or control because they skirted off.”
“I didn’t do anything to them, and having the reputation, it’s so hard because I didn’t want to do anything that could get me into trouble,” she said. “I just let it happen.”
source: people.com
