Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones has described the “personal hell” she’s endured after suffering a string of racist and misogynistic tweets, with director Paul Feig sparking a backlash movement against the trolls in coming to her defence.

The re-boot, which finally hit cinemas this week after months of internet attacks by people attacking the all-female cast, has been arguably the most talked-about film of 2016 and clearly continues to anger a small section of the internet despite the good reviews it has received.

GhostbustersThe new 'Ghostbusters' cast (l-r): Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon

48 year old Jones, most famous for her recurring spot in the ‘Saturday Night Live’ cast until being cast in Ghostbusters, has been targeted by the trolls, and she eventually had enough and shared with the world some of the hateful posts she had been receiving on Twitter.

“Exposing I hope y'all go after them like they going after me,” she tweeted Monday afternoon (July 18th), following it by re-posting a number of the sexist and misogynistic posts directed at her.

More: ‘Ghostbusters’ re-boot gets the green light for a second film

She also called on Twitter to have stronger guidelines on hate speech. “I didn't do anything to deserve this,” Jones said, adding in a subsequent tweet: “I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart. All this cause I did a movie. You can hate the movie but the shit I got today… wrong.”

Feig then came to her defence, writing in his own post: “Leslie Jones is one of the greatest people I know. Any personal attacks against her are attacks against us all. #LoveForLeslieJ @Lesdoggg”. Later that night, the hashtag #LoveForLeslieJ went viral.

Feig’s all-female ghostbusting cast, including Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon in addition to Jones, updated the 1984 classic and took an estimated $46 million at American box offices in its opening weekend – pretty much what studios expected. On Monday, Sony announced that it had commissioned a sequel.

More: Leslie Jones dazzles at ‘Ghostbusters’ premiere after dress drama