Olivia Colman supports co-star Kit Connor after he's forced into coming out as bisexual

Olivia Colman is "proud" of her Heartstopper co-star Kit Connor for coming out as bisexual after facing pressure on social media.

In the Netflix series, the Oscar-winning actress plays the supportive mother of Connor's character Nick, a popular rugby player who develops feelings for Joe Locke's outsider Charlie Spring.

After being relentlessly questioned about his sexual orientation on social media, the 18-year-old declared he was bisexual on Twitter at the end of October.

When asked about the incident by Variety at the Empire of Light premiere on Thursday night, Colman replied, "I am so proud of him, but I am not proud of how people bullied him. I think people should be allowed to have their own journey. But I'm incredibly proud of him as a young man to deal with all of that and be in the spotlight. It's unfair. But he's amazing. He's a very beautiful human being."

In his Twitter post, Connor wrote, "Back for a minute. I'm bi. Congrats for forcing an 18 year old to out himself. I think some of you missed the point of the show. Bye."

Alice Oseman, who created the show, which is based on her webcomic and graphic novel of the same name, responded to his tweet by calling him "amazing" and expressed her hope that the bullies felt "embarrassed".

"I truly don't understand how people can watch Heartstopper and then gleefully spend their time speculating about sexualities and judging based on stereotypes," she wrote.

Heartstopper aired in April and was renewed for a second and third season soon after.