Emma Corrin was "given no choice" about returning to Instagram after stepping away from the platform for a year.

The Crown star - who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns - ditched the social media site for 12 months after coming out as queer and being bombarded with negativity, but Emma has since reactivated the account because it was necessary for "work".

Emma told Variety: "It's actually kind of amazing how I've broken the habit [of using Instagram]. I don't have anything in my brain that's like: 'I wonder what's happening on Instagram?' ...

"It was work [that made me return] I was kind of given no choice in the world we live in today. But I was like: 'You know what? It's not a hill worth dying on. Make the best of it.'

"It's really nice knowing that like, I'm a nonbinary person on Instagram and even if it's just helping one person to see that, that's worth it."

Emma's initial post featured a picture of them dressed in a Miu Miu wedding dress with the caption: "Ur fave queer bride".

They added of the decision to share something so private on such a public forum: "It was a scary thing in retrospect, but I didn't put much thought into sharing it.

"I was feeling so euphoric about having figured something out about myself that felt so big, and I wanted to celebrate it and share it with other people who might feel the same."

Emma added: "So much of the world - even more so now than then, which is terrifying - is not ready and does not want to hear that. And I think that it was a rude awakening to the vileness of the world."

Emma previously admitted playing Princess Diana in Netflix series The Crown was "the greatest warning" about the downsides of fame.

The 29-year-old star told Britain's ELLE magazine: "It's a very weird aspect of this job. I find it really hard. I'm grateful, obviously, for everything my work brings my way, but as you get older and you think about what you want for the rest of your life … I'm trying to find a balance of liking the work I'm doing and the choices I'm making, and distancing myself from [the rest]...

"I think playing Diana was, in a way, the greatest warning."

Emma added of Diana - who died in a car accident in Paris in 1997: "There's a fondness there. It's like I knew her a bit. As time goes on, it's so weird to think about how much it changed my life. It's almost too big to think about."