Ryan Thomas has admitted to 'losing the bug' for acting after negative comments during his Neighbours stint.
The 36-year-old starred as Jason Grimshaw in Coronation Street for 16 years before leaving in 2016.
Two years after making an exit from the ITV soap, Ryan played Rafael Humphreys in Australian soap opera Neighbours and also won Celebrity Big Brother the same year he joined in 2018.
But the feedback wasn't all positive.
"It's so hard for me. I started off acting, I started off in that game and I really lost the bug for it," he said on the Mancs On The Mic podcast which he does with brothers Adam and Scott.
"I feel the reason for losing the bug is rejection and going to auditions and not getting them."
He went on: "I went over to do Neighbours and I just saw on social media that there were just quite negative comments towards me and my acting.
"I've never had that before because social media wasn't around. I never got it in Corrie because I never had social media when I was in Corrie.
"If I did, it was at the end but I was so established there that people saw me as fixtures and fittings, so I never really got that sort of negative criticism.
"It happens in all aspects but I just found it really really hard to deal with at first. I always think, 'Oh, it'll [the desire to act] come back at some point and maybe it will and it's still something that I have in my locker if I want to explore it again.
"Right now I'm really happy with the direction I'm going."
Ryan is being kept busy with young son Roman, with fiance Lucy Mecklenburgh, and daughter Scarlett from his previous relationship with Corrie star Tina O'Brien.
He also recently purchased a house in Manchester - without Lucy seeing it first - and the pair are getting stuck in to renovations.
