Grantchester star Melissa Johns revealed how she was ‘cried for hours’ after her agent revealed intimate photos of her had been leaked online – with ‘dosgusting’ comments being made about her disability. The actress, known for playing Sadie in The Interceptor, Imogen Pascoe on Coronation Street, Hannah Taylor in Life, is back on our screens tonight as Miss Scott in ITV drama Grantchester.
Melissa, who is also an ambassador for disability in the arts, was born without her right arm below the elbow. Discussing her disability, she previously told the BBC Access All podcast she had done everything she could to hide it when she was younger.
“Growing up, I absolutely hated my body,” she said. “I would get to dates early so I could plan which side I would be sitting on, I would choreograph sex. I literally became this master of manipulation, and it was very draining.”
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The actress was later mortified to find out her intimate photos had been leaked online and used on a site fetishising disability. Her iCloud had been hacked.
Speaking candidly on Loose Women, Melissa recounted the harrowing experience saying: “Mortified. Scary. Terrifying. When you find out that someone disrespects you like that and your body is on the internet for all the world to see, however you think you would feel is how you feel.”
She went on to describe the moment she discovered the violation of her privacy, saying: “My agent called me. My wonderful, wonderful agent. They called and said the papers have got hold of this and so for the first few hours I just cried and cried and cried.
“And then, that loss of control was really horrible. I was like I have no control over it and that’s the feeling that doesn’t sit well with me.”
Determined to regain some sense of agency, Melissa took action: “I went onto the site and I just forced myself to look at what had been written about me. I just thought I need some sort of control here because this feels way out of depth.
“I read the way that my body had been ripped apart with words – not only as a woman but as a disabled woman. A woman with a body difference. We have all been bullied, we all know what it’s like to hear bad things about us but I had never read anything as disgusting as that.”
However, she refused to let the cruel words bring her down and decided to take a stand and fight back. “That’s when I thought I can’t let this happen,” she continued. “I don’t know what my one voice can do but I have to be a part of a series of voices that can try and stop this.”