Keisha Castle-HughesWhale Rider star Keisha Castle-Hughes has said media criticism made her feel ashamed when she announced her pregnancy last year and.

Keisha, who turned 17 last month, is expecting a baby later this spring with her boyfriend of three years, Bradley Hull.

She said recently: “[The criticism] hurt at the time because it’s supposed to be a huge celebration. I was supposed to be able to go, ‘Wow, I’m having a baby and this is amazing’. I felt like that I had to hide. I felt like it was bad for me to be happy about it.”

When the news of her pregnancy broke, Keisha become a paparazzi target at her home in New Zealand: “I felt scared in my own home and it was horrible. I should be entitled to walk around my front yard without worrying that these people are watching me.”