JULIE WALTERS - JULIE WALTERS REVEALS CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ASSAULT

Julie Walters has revealed she was sexually assaulted at the age of ten when a man attempted to abduct her and friends.

The Mamma Mia! star - who spoke of the failed abduction for the first time last month – told the Daily Mirror newspaper she had kept the incident secret for more than 25 years.

"He touched me. It was nothing horrific but it could have been," she said.

Speaking ahead of the launch of her autobiography, the actress explained she had been deeply troubled by recalling her childhood trauma.

"Writing about the incident made me feel sick," she added.

"As an adult you look back at all the details you didn't understand then. Now I know what he wanted - it's frightening."

She continued: "It was the start of a sexual assault. There were three of us, and you'd think there'd have been safety in numbers. But we were so frightened of him we'd have done anything."

The 58-year-old explained that she and her friends were approached as they played in the garden of an abandoned house.

"We ran into another garden but he followed us," she said. "He made us stand on a wall, said 'stay there' and went looking for somewhere to take us.

"Then he came back and tried to get us into the house. He was desperate and really agitated.

"We managed to attract the attention of some people at a bus stop and ran away. I thank God those people were there because we were so scared."

Walters' autobiography is released in October.