Emmerdale villain Reece Dinsdale spoke about the abuse and hate he receives from trolls online as viewers "forget Paul Ashdale is not a real person."
Reece, who plays the violent and abusive stepfather of Vinny, appeared on This Morning today and told ITV hosts, Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby he has come off Twitter.
The character is possibly the most hated person on the soap at the minute, as viewers demand to see Paul axed from the show.
The long-running storyline of violent attacks is set to come to a head this week in a explosive scenes where one character will reach their end.
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The actor spoke of having mixed feelings as the hate proves he is playing the part well but likewise trolls often get personal and forget that "Paul is just a character."
He said: I've seen people get very personal.
"I don't mind that they hate Paul, that's great, that means I have done my job, I'm really pleased that they hate him.
"He does the most despicable things to his son, so that's fine, that comes with the territory.
"But what doesn't come with the territory is when people are personal about your looks or whatever, about you.
"I am Reece Dinsdale and then there is a character called Paul Ashdale, unfortunately I have to look like Paul Ashdale.
"I think people loose themselves sometimes, they don't realise that things can be said that are hurtful."
Reece confirmed that he has come off Twitter but said the trolling was not the only reason.
He added: "I'm big on Twitter, I'm quite vocal politically so obviously you get stick for that too.
"I just wanted a break from it."
Paul Ashdale's fate will be revealed this week as the dramatic story-line comes to a head at Paul and Mandy's wedding.
Emmerdale is on at 7pm tonight on ITV.
