EastEnders legend Michelle Collins hits back after being trolled over her looks

'EastEnders' star Michelle Collins has hit back at trolls who slammed her "weathered" appearance.

The soap villain has implored people to stop commenting on women's looks ahead of her character Cindy Beale's big storyline on this year's Christmas special on the BBC soap, with her affair with ex-husband George Knight's (Colin Salmon) son Junior (Micah Labfour) set to become the talk of Walford Town.

The 62-year-old actress - who has starred on-and-off as Cindy since 1988 - posted a picture of herself now and her official 'EastEnders' portrait from back in the day and posted to X/Twitter: "what I don’t get is why do people always comment on a woman’s looks? her age, how old she looks, how weathered she looks, she hasn’t aged well, looks terrible close up, honestly really ? You don’t do it to men hardly ever ! I'm older, wiser happier and a better actress (sic)."

Michelle calling out trolls comes after she recently admitted she felt "out of control" in her early days of fame.

The former 'Casualty' star recalled turning to her mum for comfort as she learned to deal with scrutiny.

Speaking on the 'How To Be 60' podcast, she said: "Lots of times I felt out of control, and I remember sometimes going to my mum and she would really worry about me a lot of time time. And I'd sit and just talk to my mum about things and she'd always say, 'Well, whatever happens, whatever people have said about you, I will always love you’.

"You have people in your life, whatever kind of happens, you get through it."

But Michelle - who left 'EastEnders' in 1998 when her character went to prison but made a shock return in 2023 even though it was thought her character had died off-screen - explained that she doesn't really have any regrets about becoming famous as she wouldn't be where she is today without everything she's gone through.

She added: "I feel like the experience I've had in my life makes me the person and the woman that I am today. I like to say I'm mature but I'm still really silly a lot of the time and I still like to enjoy myself but I feel like the younger ones, the girls who play my daughters, always say my stories are hilarious.

"And they say 'Did that really happen?' and 'Oh here comes Michelle with another story...' They love it!

"Non, je ne regrette rien! I kind of feel a bit like that. My life has the person I am today."