Roxanne Pallett ‘accused former co-star Rhydian Roberts of assaulting her on tour’

Roxanne Pallett reportedly made “exaggerated claims” against former co-star Rhydian Roberts while they were on tour together five years ago.

The former Emmerdale actress has faced a major backlash this week after claiming that fellow Celebrity Big Brother housemate Ryan Thomas punched her “maliciously” while on the Channel 5 show.

Pallett has since retracted the accusations, claiming she “got it wrong” upon reviewing the footage, which showed the incident to be nothing more than a light-hearted play-fight.

But fresh claims suggest that this might not be the first time that Pallett has accused a co-star of assaulting her.

According to reports, X Factor star Roberts was left “upset” after Pallett made accusations against him while they were touring The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

A theatre source told The Sun: “Rhydian was upset by the ordeal.

“He told pals he has been a victim of her exaggerated accusations too and was dreading working with her on the pantomime and because he thought it could happen again.”

Pallett and Roberts had been set to work together again this year after both being cast in pantomime Cinderella in Chesterfield, which Pallett has now stepped down from.

“He didn’t initially know she was going to be in it when he signed up. He was scared to be in the panto with her and if she didn’t drop out, he would,” said the insider.

Roberts has since tweeted to say that the story had not “come from him” and the allegations Pallet made against him “are well in the past.”

He wrote: “This story has not come directly from myself. I didn’t really want to draw attention to it as I feel Roxanne has suffered enough for her actions lately and the things she accused me of are well in the past. Time is a healer. I just hope she gets the help she needs.”

A number of Pallett’s former co-stars have spoken out against her in the wake of the CBB row, including 22 Emmerdale actors.

Evening Standard has contacted representatives of Pallet and Roberts for comment.