Former Home and Away star Christie Hayes has bravely spoken out about her domestic violence experience.

The actor-turned-radio star, who rose to fame playing Kirsty Sutherland on the popular Channel 7 soap in the 2000s, revealed at age 15 she was in an abusive relationship with an older man.

“I haven’t ever spoken about it on air; I’ve really (never) told anybody about it apart from my mum,” she said on her Hobart’s Hit100.9 show Dan & Christie For Breakfast.

“I was 15. I was on TV. Wherever I went, I would have people stare at me and whisper, ‘Oh, that’s Kirsty from Home and Away!’

“I remember being at the airport with a boyfriend, and he had gone through my bag, he’d gone through my stuff, and I had written a Christmas card to a co-star of mine — a guy who was on the show with me. I had said, ‘Hey, I love you. Merry Christmas. Have a great break.’

“He hit me in the face so hard that I had almost a tooth missing, I was bleeding all down my mouth, and I remember shaking with embarrassment going, ‘Oh my god, what if someone saw that?’ I ran to the bathroom, and I started to cry.

“I was 15 when this happened. I was young, I was a little girl.”

The radio star said that she looks “back on that little girl and I just think, ‘I just want to protect her.’

“It’s still happening. It’s happening to little girls, it’s happening to grown women — we are being hit.

“We are sick and tired of it. I look back at the kid I was, and I wish I protected myself. I couldn’t protect myself.”

The video of the American rapper, first published by CNN, appears to depict Combs wearing only a white towel chasing his then partner, real name Cassie Ventura, and kicking her on the ground.

It then shows the US music mogul dragging Ventura, and throwing a vase in her direction.

Combs has since apologised for the actions seen in the confronting footage.

In a video statement posted to Instagram, Combs said his behaviour was “inexcusable” and that he was “disgusted” by it.