Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley has told of the time she was followed by a “scary” fan into a hotel lobby.
Ridley, who has become a global star since making her Star Wars debut in 2015 film The Force Awakens, has also told of the impact her fame has had on her family, saying that she used to be more focused on protecting them rather than herself.
According to US magazine Marie Claire, Ridley, her mother and sister were followed in their car by a fan in New York in 2017.
Ridley is reported to have got her family members out of the car, but was then followed into her hotel lobby by the man.
She told the magazine: “He is a really big guy, so physically he’s scary, and I was alone and it was the middle of the night, so I started shouting at him because I was scared.”
She added: “And then I got a bit of therapy after that ’cause I was like, ‘I’m not dealing with this shit because I’m too concerned for other people’.”
Ridley said that her rise to fame has been “really hard” on her family, and that the attention on her has been “super invasive”, but that she was initially more focused on protecting her family than herself.
“I was so aware of how difficult it was for them, I wasn’t actually dealing with how difficult it was for me,” she said.
“We went to a wedding recently, and it was uncomfortable for me because people were really rude. They don’t act like normal human beings.
“And then, not only did I not have a good time, but then my mum was upset and then my sisters are upset. So it’s tricky.”
The film star added that now she treats herself “really nicely”.
The British actress, 27, plays lead character Rey in the Star Wars trilogy films, her most recent appearance being in 2017’s The Last Jedi.
She will next appear in her final stint in the franchise in The Rise Of Skywalker, out later this year.
The blockbuster, directed by JJ Abrams, will bring to an end the nine-part saga that began with the original Star Wars in 1977.
The film also stars John Boyega, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver and the late Carrie Fisher, who is appearing in unused footage from previous films.