Former Neighbours star Kym Valentine claims the producers of the long-running Australian soap opera have subjected her to sex and disability discrimination. The 36-year-old actress is suing the show and demanding that they give her her job back.

Ms Valentine played the role of Libby Kennedy in the show from 1994 to 2004, and again from 2007 to 2008 when she was forced to take a leave of absence after she was diagnosed with pneumonia and a collapsed lung. She returned to the set after a month of recuperation.

New Zealand actress Michala Banas temporarily played her character during her short absence, which devastated the Aussie actress.

“Libby is like my partner. She’s been with me for 14 years,” she had told News Ltd. “It was like being told your boyfriend was going to be intimate with someone else and you not only had to deal with it, but be happy about it.”

Again in 2010, Ms Valentine had to leave the show due to ill health. She came back in January 2011, but after a few months, she took indefinite leave from the show to focus on getting her health back.

According to the documents obtained by Fairfax Media, Ms Valentine alleges that production company FremantleMedia Australia, legal director Steven Rosser, and former Neighbours producers Susan Bower and Neal Kingston had engaged in unlawful discrimination.

They apparently failed to provide a “working environment that was safe” and breached “the relationship of trust and confidence.”

The mother of one is seeking compensation for lost wages and for the “pain, hurt, suffering, and humiliation” she endured from the producers. She also wants an acknowledgment that she suffered unlawful discrimination and an apology.

Her contract with Neighbours is believed to have expired at the end of 2011.

A spokesman for the FremantleMedia declined to comment on the case.

Kym Valentine as Libby Kennedy on Neighbours:

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