'I got it wrong' says Roxanne Pallett in first interview since leaving Celebrity Big Brother over punch row

Former Emmerdale star Roxanne Pallett has said she "got it wrong" after she claimed that actor Ryan Thomas punched her in the Celebrity Big Brother house.

Speaking on Channel 5's Jeremy Vine, Pallett said: "At the time it hurt. But when I looked back on that footage as soon I left the house - the first thing I did was view that clip - and I got it wrong, I really got it wrong."

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Pallett told Vine: "After it happened I just felt like, I don't know how to explain... my mind ran away with me.

"I'm a sensitive person, my friends and family can vouch for that, everything in that house was so heightened.

"Your insecurities are heightened, your sensitivities, the only thing I can explain is it was, in the moment, it felt worse than it was."

Pallett added that she regretted saying Thomas hurt her "deliberately".

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She said: "I massively apologise, not just to Ryan, but his family and friends and his fans and every person who watched that and justifiably saw an overreaction to what wasn't a malicious act.

"In that moment, because I am sensitive and I am emotional, I mistook what was playful."

She continued: "He couldn't disprove his intention and I couldn't prove a feeling. Since I've been out of the house the first thing I did was look at the clip and speak to my family and reflect.

"I wasn't thinking straight and that is something I'm going to have to go away and think about."

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Pallett said she thought she might be "over-sensitive" because she has previously been a victim of domestic violence.

She said she was "devastated" that she might have discredited other victims.

She that she "massively regrets" what happened and added: "All I can say is in that moment my emotions and my thought process was greater than the reaction and looking back I absolutely overreacted and got it wrong."

Speaking about the online abuse she has received since the incident, Pallett said: "I've had to take a massive step back from everything in my life. I don't blame everyone. I understand.

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"If I had been at home watching I would have been confused by my reaction."

Pallett denied suggestions she was doing the interview in order to protect her career.

She said: "I chose to be here today. In fact I was advised not to. I'm not getting paid for this interview, I wasn't told to do this interview. In fact it's been the hardest thing I've ever had to do, to come here today.

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"It's affected my family, my friends, people that have detached themselves from me. This is my reality now. I'm here today to acknowledge a mistake."

Pallett added that she understood the backlash on social media she had received following the incident.

She said: "I see the importance of speaking out as and when you need to. But I also see the confusion attached to people overreacting, people making light of something serious.

"It does discredit the people who have genuinely been through it, and I am one of those people that's genuinely been through it."

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Pallett said: "I've know people who have been falsely accused of things and I've been that person who has kept quiet when I should have spoken up.

"In my teens and early years I bottled a lot of things up. I've almost gone the other way now and I've flinched at somebody invading my personal space when I was already very sensitive and my mind ran away with me."

Pallett said that people should feel sorry for Thomas, rather than her.

Pallett said being taking out of her family environment and being around people who did not know what she had previously been through led to her "terrible mistake".

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When asked about some of her co-stars coming forward to make further allegations against her, Pallett said: "I think we all make friends and enemies along the way in life and in jobs.

"Unfortunately when you make mistakes there's a lot of people who want to contribute to the backlash."