Natalie Bassingthwaighte’s candid confession about a relationship she had when she was a teenager has sparked a flood of criticism, with many fans saying the story sounds remarkably familiar.

The former Neighbours actress revealed that at 19 she became romantically involved with a married man who was more than three decades her senior.

She shared the deeply personal chapter in her memoir, Love Like This, before discussing it further during an appearance on the Inherited podcast.

Looking back, Bassingthwaighte said the frowned upon relationship left her grappling with guilt as she struggled to come to terms with pain caused to the man’s wife.

“The hardest part was feeling deceitful because I’ve always felt like that’s not who I am as a person to the core,” she said in a snippet of the podcast shared on Instagram.

“I just fell in love with a person who told me I was amazing and beautiful and talented and funny.

“The hardest part was her [the wife]. Knowing that you’re doing something to someone else. When she came to me, it was the worst day of my life.”

In her memoir, the actress also revealed she became pregnant during the relationship before later suffering a miscarriage.

Many fans couldn’t help but notice the similarities in her story to the role that made her a household name.

For years, Bassingthwaighte portrayed Izzy Hoyland in Neighbours, a character whose affair with the married Karl Kennedy became one of Aussie TV’s most unforgettable soap plots.

The fictional romance resulted in Lizzy falling pregnant, sending shockwaves through Ramsay Street and cementing the love triangle between Karl and his wife, Susan Kennedy.

“Is she talking about her real life or neighbours? I’m guessing neighbours but she sounds like she is talking about her real life?,” one person wrote.

Another added: “She took her job on neighbours too seriously lol.”

“Oh… so that Neighbours storyline was a bit on the nose then…” a third chimed in.

Others condemned the infidelity.

“Omg. Way to not take accountability,” one person said.

“Sorry but you betrayed a sister ,” wrote another.

The Rogue Traders singer star recently made headlines in June after shared her devastation after losing her leading-lady job after another major musical in Australia was axed, a topic she touched on in the same podcast.

Bassingthwaighte, who was cast in the leading role of Jenna in Waitress the musical, said she had struggled to comprehend the abrupt cancellation of the Australian tour she was about to lead.

Ahead of the musical travelling to Sydney, promoters cancelled the entire Australian tour of Waitress, citing cost of living pressures and poor box office performance.

“It’s been hard to comprehend - the amount of effort that every person in this cast and crew and company have put into this show. It’s devastating that it comes to an end so abruptly,” Bassingthwaighte said in a video posted on her Instagram Stories.

“My heart is hurting so much for this industry of ours, across the board.

“It’s not just musical theatre: It’s theatre. It’s festivals. It’s shows of any kind. The arts is dying in this country, and that hurts my heart beyond anything,” she said.

In a series of posts made on her Instagram account, Bassingthwaighte told her followers the industry needed support.

“The amount of effort, time and love that people have put into these careers. Their passion, dedication, it only spreads to an audience and it gives humanity reasons to live.

“I know right in the current climate it is almost impossible.”