You thought high school was hard? Try walking in the flip-flops of Pretty Little Liars’ Emily Fields for a day. Shay Mitchell’s gay character has had more than her share of dramz: Since her best friend’s murder, she’s been terrorized by the mysterious “A” and come out as a lesbian—and, thanks to her horrified parents, her girlfriend was shipped of to some kind of sobriety camp. Emily proved she could stand up to a Swimfan-style bully at school, but what about her anonymous tormentor, A? Shay gave us the scoop…

Emily has transformed from a shy, confused girl to a badass babe, and Shay couldn’t be happier. “From the beginning of season one we saw that Emily is dealing with her sexuality and over the season she has come out to her parents, which I think is amazing,” Shay told us. “And you see how other people are accepting it. With [these latest] episodes there is a little bit of [anti-gay] bullying. I think it was important for the writers to put that in there, but it’s [also] fun. [Emily's]‘s going to have a good time [standing up for herself].”

Shay says she has received “feedback from people from all around the world” about her character’s sexuality. “Young girls and guys just come up to me on the street and say things like, ‘Thank you, I related to your character unlike any other, especially when she was first discovering who she was and then come out to her dad—it gave me courage and strength to come out to my parents.’ That’s amazing, I couldn’t imagine playing a better character. I am very fortunate.”

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