Emmerdale star Michelle Hardwick has been forced to up security at her Leeds home, which she shares with her wife and co-star Kate Brooks and their young son after receiving vile homophobic death threats.
The soap star, who is best known for her role as Vanessa Woodfield on the long-running ITV soap, recently had to involve the police due to the hate she is receiving in relation to her sexuality as she was worried for the safety of her family.
Michelle took to her Instagram account on Monday, September 26 to thank a security company for increasing protection around their countryside home following the recent incidents.
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She penned: "Anyone local to the Leeds/Wakefield area who needs any security solutions then look no further than @msc.security.solutions. This was a fully paid for job, not a paid ad. I just wanted to post because they were fabulous."
Sadly, it's not the first time Michelle has been at the receiving end of such abuse, earlier this year she spoke out about the "horrific" online trolling she was getting as she expressed concerns for the safety of her son.
In an interview with our colleagues at OK! Magazine, Michelle said: "We've had a bit of trolling over the last few years. And there have been certain times when police have had to be called because there have been death threats.
"When they're mentioning your son’s name and you're just going 'Really? I'm just in a soap you know – we’re not doing any harm to anybody'."
The actor has been openly gay since 2013 and is married to Emmerdale producer Kate Brooks, with the couple having a baby boy called Teddy and another on the way.
The soap star first met her now-wife when she was a producer on Emmerdale. The pair had been dating for a little while before they announced their romance in September 2017.
This came some time after Michelle's split from ex-wife Rosie. They dated for three years before marrying in 2015. Michelle and Rosie then split in 2016 and are said to be ‘good friends’ still.
You can visit our Emmerdale homepage to find the latest gossip about the soap and its stars. There you'll also find our Emmerdale features and news about the show's 50th anniversary plans.
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