Emmerdale actress Louisa Clein revealed she has received mixed reaction to the controversial grooming storyline.
The 40-year-old plays Maya Stepney on the ITV soap and the character has been slowly grooming her student and step son Jacob Gallagher.
Louisa appeared on Loose Women to talk about the harrowing scenes ahead of another twist in the story.
She told host Ruth Langsford she was really excited to take on the story, but acknowledged not all viewers were happy about it.
Louisa said: "The reaction has been really mixed. I have received really lovely messages from people, tell me this story line is helping them.
"They have been in similar situations, what was a lovely relationship was actually them being groomed."
The actress was keen to stress the writers and actors have been working closely with children's charity Barnardos, saying Emmerdale 'has a platform and responsibility' to tell the story.
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She added: "My respect for the social workers and the people there to pick up the pieces and seeing how they work with the children. They are looked after way beyond their job description."
The Loose Women quizzed the soap star on how uncomfortable some of the scenes have been and asked how actor Joe-Warren Plant, who plays Jacob, coped.
She said: "He is 17, and he has been on there since he was eight. He is very mature and we all look after him.
"It's a job, that's what we do.
"He always has chaperons around, we have tried to stay aways from as much physical contact on screen as possible, we didn't want to make it titillating, raunchy. It is about the manipulation."
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The storyline looks like it is going to take another turn, as Jacob and Maya get the money together for Liv who is blackmailing them to keep quiet about their secret.
*Loose Women is on ITV1, weekdays from 12:30pm
