Deadpool & Wolverine star Emma Corrin has opened up about the experience of publicly coming out as non-binary.

Corrin shot to fame in 2020, playing Diana, Princess of Wales in Netflix’s The Crown, for which she won a Golden Globe. But, the following year, after revealing that they identify as non-binary, the My Policeman star had to face a wave of online abuse and was ridiculed by right-wing pundits.

Last year, they recalled being “took aback” by the amount of vitriol they were subjected to after changing their Instagram pronouns to they/them and discussing their use of chest binders.

Now, speaking to British GQ, Corrin has delved further into the experience and how it affected them, describing it as a “headf**k”, adding: “You go into everything very fresh-faced and with a lot of genuineness.”

But when you come out to the world, “you get knocked down a ton and people f**king stamp that out”, they went on to say.

Emma Corrin plays a villain in her latest big-screen role. (Getty)

“[They] make f**king stupid clickbait headlines that make you feel like s**t and use your identity against you as a weapon.”

In 2022, Corrin hit out at articles which took the “nuance” of gender-identity issues and reduced them to “clickbait”, after they were asked a question about the possibility of award ceremony categories being gender neutral.

Although they suggested that the conversation was bigger than awards categories, and focus should instead be on there being “more representation in the material itself”, media reports insinuated that Corrin had called for gender-neutral awards categories at the Oscars.

Corrin, soon to be seen as psychic-powered villain Cassandra Nova in Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine, also spoke about being bullied at school because of their androgynous appearance.

“I went to the dance and someone thought I was a boy and asked me to dance, and it became a big joke in my class,” Corrin recalled. “[After that], I started conforming. I grew out my hair and rolled up my skirt.”

It was only in their twenties that they began feeling comfortable with their gender identity.

In May, fans got their first look at Corrin in their latest role. “There’s a lot of pressure on it, but I think that it’s the right one at the right time,” they said, reflecting on entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“Because it’s Deadpool, and Deadpool has always broken the mould, right? That’s why [star] Ryan [Reynolds] is a genius. When the genre has been incredibly safe, and at the moment it’s on the rocks, people come in and blow it out of the water again.”

Deadpool & Wolverine is due to open in cinemas on 26 July.