Hollyoaks actor Ashling O’Shea bravely confronted a man who was following her at night in west London.
The actor - who played Nadira Valli on the Channel 4 soap from 2022 to 2024 - shared a video of herself questioning the man in Shepherd’s Bush on Tuesday night.
She claimed the “creep” had followed her to multiple bus stops during the “really scary” ordeal and only walked away when she began filming him at a bus stop where there was another man.
“You’ve been following me this whole time,” she said in the clip as the man looked away and pretended not to hear.
“I came over here, you’ve been following me the whole time. I’ve gone to multiple bus stops, shall I just film you?
“Every time I move you’re following me. Go where you need to go, I’ve got your face on video. Why don’t you just go?”
O’Shea went on: “I’ve got you and there’s a witness right here so why don’t you go away now. Go away now. Leave me alone.”
The man eventually walked off. The text on the clip read: “It’s not always men, but it is always a man.”
The actor wrote alongside the video: “I’m not quite sure why I’m sharing this, I don’t know whether it’s to raise awareness of the s*** we experience day to day, to open a dialogue about when men can do if they see situations like this, to publicly shame this man or whether it’s just a way for me to do something with my anger.
“Here it is anyway. This guy followed me across a road, he tried to speak to me multiple times. I ignored, but he persisted.
“Once I got to the bus stops, he stopped saying things – probably because there was the odd person around to hear.
“He continued to follow me. I changed bus stops several times. I walked up and down that road, changing direction frequently. He kept following.
“When there was someone (a man) at a bus stop I sat in with them and he waited just a few steps away. I did this a few times.”
She went on: “At the point of this video I only felt able to speak up and say/do anything because there was a man present that I told about the situation. I had a witness.
“To clarify misused words on my story, I felt backed by his presence, not by his words or action.
“The man I spoke to prior to him at a different bus stop heard, understood, watched the behaviour, but also said nothing and got on his bus.
“After this confrontation, when I was able to actually go to the bus stop I needed, there was a man waiting there.
“I explained the situation and wanted to know if he’d be there a while. I didn’t want to be alone while that creep was still lingering around just in case.
“I didn’t know whether that confrontation truly scared him off, or just put pause on his plans and made him angry.”
@ashlingosheax Thank you to all the kind people who have done nothing but comment with support and solidarity. It’s been beautiful to see, but I can’t keep seeing that other stuff.
♬ original sound - Ashling O’Shea
The man at the bus stop was able to support O’Shea during the incident.
“This guy I chat to was so kind, we communicated via Google translate and when we got on the same bus he checked in with me at the beginning and end of his trip,” she explained.
“Although I feel so grateful for each of these men being there in the moment, I wanna be clear that no one spoke up or took any direct action.
“And that’s okay, we have no idea how dangerous a person might be and sometimes it’s enough just to feel seen.
“But sometimes it’s also just really scary knowing you don’t necessarily have back up, you just have a witness to whatever might be about to happen to you.”
She clarified that the incident took place in Shepherd's Bush, “a few minutes down the road from Bush Theatre”.
The actor later turned off the comments on her original video after a “hellish” day spent deleting “racist and xenophobic” comments from users on Instagram.
