British actress Florence Pugh has said "bullying took its toll" on her and ex-boyfriend, US actor/director Zach Braff, after they received abuse both in public and online.
Pugh, 28, said bullying had affected their families and it was "not nice" to hear people saying "the worst things I've ever read about someone that I love".
She said people were "being nasty about my confidence or nasty about my weight" which had been "really painful".
The Oppenheimer star told British Vogue: "I had to be public (with my relationship) in the past because people were bullying me and bullying my partner.
"Mine and Zach’s relationship was actually quite private until it was nasty, and I could see the toll that it was taking on him and us and our families, and that’s when I spoke out.
"I think for anyone I’m with, I want to protect them. It’s not nice knowing that people are saying the worst things I’ve ever read about someone that I love. So that was necessary.
"I needed to talk about it, I think any relationship in this limelight is going to be stressed."
Braff is an actor who has starred as the voice of Chicken Little and appeared in Scrubs and Cheaper By The Dozen.
In 2004, Braff made his directorial debut with Garden State in which he also starred.
Pugh said it was "so hard" to read the comments on her social media channels.
She added: "(The internet’s) a very mean place. It’s really painful to read people being nasty about my confidence or nasty about my weight. It never feels good.
"The one thing I always wanted to achieve was to never sell someone else, something that isn’t the real me."
She said the "weird stuff with relationships" she had been through had put her "at the right age" to star as Almut in upcoming unconventional romance film, We Live In Time, for which she had to shave her head.
Pugh said: "I’m so glad I get to talk about it now. For any actor taking a role like this, it is completely important that you see her head and we see her shaving it - it was just always a no-brainer.
"You have the honour of doing something to yourself that is totally in support of the character.
"In many religions, hair is the most precious thing on the body - it’s where you store your memories and your dreams and your history.
"(Shaving) it was really bizarre. My head was so sensitive and so many people were trying to touch it and it was so alive. My body went into a bit of trauma from it. I was cold all the time."
Pugh said she was in a relationship in real life.
She said: "Something that I resonate with is that I believe that if magic is real, then it’s falling in love.
"We are figuring what we actually are. And I think, for the first time, I’m not allowing myself to go on a roller-coaster. I’m allowing myself to take time to let something evolve and let it be completely real to its core, as opposed to racing into that.
"Falling is the most amazing feeling, but unfortunately if that’s the only thing that you know in a relationship, then that’s the thing that you chase. That’s not going to last."
Source: Press Association
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