Terror: Corrie star Helen Flanagan fled her hotel room thinking there was man under her bed hours after the National Television Awards last week
Film and television stars have long been victims of obsessed fans that take their infatuation too far.
And Corrie star Helen Flanagan feared she had become the latest soap star stalked by a crazed admirer last week when she fled her hotel room in tears, screaming 'There's a man under my bed!'
The 20-year-old appeared in the lobby of the Radisson Edwardian hotel in Canary Wharf, London barefoot in her bed clothes and in a terrified state, witnesses report.
Helen was staying at the hotel with her Coronation street co-stars after the National Television Awards when the incident happened at about 12.30pm on Thursday afternoon.
The actress, who plays Rosie Webster on the soap, came out of the lift at the ground-floor lobby and stunned onlookers by screaming that there was a man under her bed in her fifth-floor hotel room.
'Helen was absolutely hysterical,' an onlooker told The People.
'All of a sudden the lift doors opened and out stepped Helen. She was on her own but all of us looked up when she mentioned twice that there was this man under her bed.
Hotel shock: The actress was staying at the Radisson Edwardian hotel in Canary Wharf with co-stars after attending the awards at the O2 Arena
'She was holding her hands to her face clutching a tissue. It was like Helen had just seen a ghost.
'Her hair was a mess and she was wearing her bed scruffs a striped rugby top, loose-fitting trousers and nothing on her feet.'
Reception staff rushed to the actress' aid, the witness says, and ushered her into a back office.
But when security staff went to search the room, they found no one in there.
A spokeswoman for Coronation Street confirmed the incident: 'Helen was checking under her bed and for a split second she thought she had seen someone.
Obsessed fans: The 20-year-old, as Rosie Webster in the soap, has spoken out in the past over her fears for her safety
'She is very upset and doesn't want to discuss it.'
Miss Flanagan's co-star Katherine Kelly, 30, went into the manager's office to comfort her co-star.
The cast were staying at the East London hotel after attending the awards ceremony at the nearby O2 Arena.
The Corrie stars drowned their sorrows at a post-awards party at the hotel after losing out on the Best Serial Drama to EastEnders.
Helen has spoken in the past about her security fears as a downside to fame.
'It can be quite dangerous sometimes,' she has said. 'Its easier to go out when there's security and you're all together.'
Source:Dailymail