Hollyoaks star Stephanie Davis has said she was "really scared" and constantly suffering panic attacks before her stalker was jailed last week.
The actress was bombarded with social media messages, letters, and gifts delivered to her home at night.
Alex Boston, 43, was sentenced to 28 weeks in prison in Liverpool on Friday and issued with an indefinite restraining order that bans him from contacting Davis or approaching her home.
Speaking in her first TV interview since the sentencing, the 28-year-old told ITV's This Morning: "There were daffodils left outside my drive. That was the first time it started.
"My little boy Caben saw them and said: 'Mummy, daffodils - can we take them inside?'
"I didn't think anything of it, so I let him put them in the plant pot.
"Now, on reflection, I think if he was watching me, he [the stalker] saw that as a sign of acceptance and then from there it just carried on.
"The daffodils kept coming back."
Davis, who appeared in Celebrity Big Brother in 2016, explained that she began to see fake accounts popping up on her social media requests.
"I can't even tell you how many accounts there were. I'd block them and he'd instantly make another one," Davis explained.
"They were lengthy messages and quite disturbing... that's when I started to notice."
The TV star was also inundated with cards and letters.
In one letter, which was seven pages long, Boston claimed he loved her and was in a relationship with her, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed.
Speaking about her five-year-old son who she shares with reality television personality Jeremy McConnell, Davis said: "As soon as he [the stalker] mentioned Caben - and he left presents for Caben as well - my blood started to boil.
"I was really scared."
"I was a single mum, living at home on my own - petrifying. I had to leave my home where I live - that was our safe place - with Caben - that was violated then," she continued.
Davis admitted she eventually moved out to live with her family and was "looking over my shoulder... constantly filled with anxiety".
She added: "I struggle with my mental health anyway, but when that happened my anxiety was through the roof.
"I was constantly having panic attacks... I couldn't sleep... I kept checking on Caben."
The actress explained that the stalking began in April 2020 until July 2021 because police struggled to find traces of DNA on the letters and gifts.
Davis said: "The police were taking it to check all the letters in forensics and there were no fingerprints on them because he wore gloves when he wrote them. He had a blocker to the cameras on the street, so it cut out when he walked past. We couldn't even get a clear image... I felt like I was in The Bodyguard.
"It was like living in a horror film.
"One of the letters, he messed up and left a fingerprint."
Boston pleaded guilty to stalking at Liverpool Magistrates' Court on 12 November and was handed a 28-week prison sentence on Friday.
Davis, who is best known for playing Sinead O'Connor on Hollyoaks and came to fame on BBC talent series Over the Rainbow, has said she feels "relieved".
"I slept for the first time in a long time.
"I still think it's going to take a while... even when I was leaving my house yesterday, I've got a rustly plant at the end of my drive and it rustled again in the wind and [scared me]."
If you have been affected by issues raised in this story, please visit: www.rte.ie/helplines.
Source: Press Association
