Claire King has revealed the “cruel” struggles she has had behind the scenes of Emmerdale. The actress played Kim Tate in the long-running drama between 1989 and 1999, before returning again two years ago.
The 57-year-old has now detailed why she is no longer on Twitter, admitting reruns of the soap have exasperated the problem.
The small screen favourite said she has been trolled badly, saying the messages are “always age-related”.
Claire said it has made it worse that viewers are seeing her on screen from instalments that are three decades old.
Emmerdale, which the star has been a part of on-and-off for 30 years, episodes from yesteryear are regularly shown on ITV3.
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When asked about her time on social media recently, Claire said it didn’t used to be a problem for obvious reasons.
She commented: “I think everyone in the public eye gets trolled, it seems to be the in thing these days.
“The first time I was on Emmerdale, we didn’t have social media so it’s a completely diferent world.”
The star continued and detailed why she no longer uses the micro-blogging site.
“I’d have thought women would stick together, but sadly not. I don’t have time for it and I don’t need it in my life, so I just came off social media.”
Claire added: “You think people would be a bit kinder in this day and age with all the talk about mental health.”
It comes after Kim made her return to the Dales in 2018, following her helicopter escape nearly 20 years earlier.
The character was reintroduced as part of a special week of episodes, with her name being kept a secret on call sheets and scripts.