Fiona Wade was the target of racist bullies at school.
The ‘Emmerdale’ actress – who is half-English and half-Filipino – has revealed her torment at the hands of mean-spirited youngsters when she was growing up.
She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "When you are a little different at school it singles you out. I was into my singing, dancing and acting and so I stood out. People would call me names and I was a different race so I got picked on for that.
"It was always by the other kids. I didn’t get any racist abuse from adults, thank goodness."
The soap actress found fame at a young age on children’s programme ‘Grange Hill’, which led to even more cruel jibes.
Fiona said: "I didn’t enjoy school that much. It wasn’t easy. I would get picked up by these lovely cars to take me to filming and that didn’t bode very well with the others. Pupils would go, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ "
However, Fiona was determined not to let the bullies get the best of her and remains proud of the way she dealt with the situation.
She reflected: "It was nothing I couldn’t handle. When I look back now, I survived it so it is all OK. People are always going to pick on you if you are a bit different. But different is good, people should never worry about that."
Fiona Wade was target of racist bullies
