Louisa Clein was abused in a shop in front of her two-year-old son over her portrayal of paedophile Maya Stepney in 'Emmerdale'.
Louisa Clein
The star was branded "a b****" by a member of the public because of the evil teacher - who groomed her school pupil Jacob Gallagher (Joe-Warren Plant) - and she had to remind them that her role was not real.
She said: "I did have a situation where I was with my little son, who was two.
"I was in a shop and someone came up to me and went, ‘You are such a b****’.
"I was like, 'You know it’s not real? I’m with my son and he just thinks some strange lady has come up to me and said something mean.' "
Louisa has also had some "unattractive men" shouting at her in the street that they are "too old" for her.
She said: "I’ve had a few slightly older, unattractive men shouting at me, going, ‘Oh I’m too old for you!’
"My response is usually that it’s not your age that’s the problem here."
Maya was sentenced to 12 months in prison in June 2019, but Louisa made a shock return to the ITV soap in November that year as her character was released from jail, and turned out to be pregnant.
And Louisa admitted she was "a bit frightened" of her surprise return becoming public knowledge because it was such a huge secret to keep.
She added to the 'Soap From the Box' podcast: "So nobody knew. I was a bit frightened of not keeping it a secret because if it had got out, they would have known it was me and I would have been in so much trouble."
Louisa previously admitted she had to film her surprise 'Emmerdale' pregnancy scenes "undercover".
She wrote on Instagram: "Well who saw that coming?? Hats off to @emmerdale for keeping that scene secret!! Undercover filming was super exciting!! #emmerdale #mayastepney (sic)"