Sheridan Smith has said she is leaving Twitter after internet trolls attacked her family in a row over the Brits.

The Cilla star faced a backlash from users on the social media site after she defended Ant and Dec’s performance as hosts of the Brit Awards on Wednesday night.

Sheridan Smith
(Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Sheridan, 33, then revealed trolls had sent messages targeting her family, including her eldest brother, Julian, who died from cancer when he was just 18 and she was eight.

The next morning she tweeted: “Felt s***e all night, couldn’t sleep a wink & now off to a 4 hour voice over. Hardly saving lives though eh? Shuddup moaning Smith!”

And later added: “Oh f**k this, bye twitter.”