Emmerdale actress reveals school bullies threw excrement at her

Emmerdale actress Gemma Oaten has revealed she had excrement thrown at her by school bullies.

The star, who played Rachel Breckle in the ITV soap, said her school days were so bad she developed anorexia.

She told ITV News: "Kids threw things at me over a toilet cubicle; tampons, excrement - but for me it was more the emotional bullying which was even harder because I had no scars to show."

Gemma, 31, is one of several celebrities lending their voices to the Back to School anti-bullying campaign.

It comes after a survey by The Diana Award charity revealed nearly half of all school children are victims of bullying.

Gemma said she was a "happy-go-lucky" girl until she started to hit puberty.

"That period of going from primary school to high school was utterly horrendous.

"I was in pieces and during that time I developed an eating disorder and that was my way of trying to control what people said and did to me because I couldn't."

The Back To School campaign aims to promote ambassadors in schools to encourage more children to speak out rather than suffer in silence.

Asked what her advice to young people starting about to start secondary school would be, she said: "Speak out - to teachers, loved ones. Don't be cowered in a corner by these bullies because that's what makes them strong.

"I think my message is we only let them be as strong as we allow them to be."