Lulu Wang first shared her family lie on a 2016 episode of This American Life called "In Defence of Ignorance." In the episode, Wang tells the story of how her relatives deliberately kept her grandmother in the dark about a lung cancer diagnosis. The project would evolve into 2019's critically acclaimed The Farewell, Wang's second directorial gig starring Awkwafina as Billie, a fictionalized version of Wang.
Listen to "In Defence of Ignorance" now.