Laila Rouass says she had urine thrown at her "every single day" during her childhood.
The Holby City star grew in Stepney in London’s East End, and encountered vile racist abuse from bullies for being born to an Indian mother and a Moroccan father.
“I got p*** thrown at me every single day,” she exclusively told The Mirror.
“Just a couple of months ago some guy cut me up in his car and shouted: ‘F*** off, you f*****g P***.’
“It’s terrible. If you tell people they don’t believe it happens so often.”
The actress recently returned to her role as Sahira Shah on the hit BBC show following an eight-year break.
Laila admits that a big big factor in her return was Holby’s cast diversity.
"One thing I love is that Sahira’s ethnicity is never mentioned, even I’m not sure what it is," she told us.
The actress has been in a relationship with snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan ever since the pair struck up a romance in 2012.
She's a proud mum to daughter Inez from an earlier relationship, and revealed to us that it's tough being part of a blended family.
"It’s a lie if people tell you that blended families are easy," she explained. "He’s struggled with it, I’ve struggled with it and Inez has struggled with it.
"It takes hard work and you have to be honest with yourself and each other. That’s what we’ve had to do over the last nine years. We’ve had to work through things and now it’s much smoother."
The star admits that after working hard to do so, she feels that she and Ronnie have finally managed to create a family environment for their children.
"Initially I thought, 'This guy is not step-dad material'. He’s a fantastic dad to his kids, but he was struggling with his own relationship with his family," she said.
"I thought he had too much on his plate, but now he and Inez have got the best relationship."
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