Rose McGowan has been speaking of her pride in becoming the first woman to receive a GQ 'Man of the Year' Award, saying it helps society move towards 'getting rid of labels'.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain, she rejected a claim by Piers Morgan that 'man' had become a bad word, saying she would not want to change the award's name to 'Human of the Year'.

Ms McGowan's award comes as her name was dragged into a an ongoing row between journalist Ronan Farrow, who helped expose Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct last year, and NBC News.

Stress and pride: Actress and activist Rose McGowan will make history this week by becoming the first woman to be honoured with the Inspiration Award at the GQ Men of the Year Awards

Farrow had initially been investigating Weinstein for NBC News - and interviewed Ms McGowan for this - and claims the network dropped the story following pressure from executives friendly with Weinstein.

In response, NBC's chairman Andy Lack sent a memo to staff defending its decision, claiming that after eight months of reporting, Farrow 'still did not have a single victim willing to go on the record', after Ms McGowan retracted her story.

'Rose McGowan — the only woman Farrow interviewed who was willing to be identified — had refused to name Weinstein and then her lawyer sent a cease-and-desist letter. So we had nothing yet fit to broadcast.'

Ms McGowan was eventually named in a piece in the New York Times, but not in Farrow's article in The New Yorker, as having reached a $100,000 settlement with Weinstein in 1997 over a 'hotel room incident'.

NBC News have been accused of 'killing' Ronan Farrow's Weinstein expose

She then made an allegation that 'HW raped me' on Twitter, a week after the New York Times piece, and went on to become one of the most vocal MeToo movement activists.

This week, the actress is in the UK to accept the GQ Men of the Year's Inspiration Award on Wednesday, the first woman in history to do so.

When asked if it feel's weird to be given a 'man of the year' award, she said: 'No, I think it feels great.

'I think it means we're moving towards human and getting rid of labels.

'It's great to have men of the year, it's great to have women of the year… I don't know, I like the idea of humans.'

This saw Mr Morgan bring up a recent change he observed in men's international cricket where a 'Man of the Match' award had been changed for 'Player of the Match'.

Riled up over the issue, Mr Morgan asked: 'Why is "man" suddenly a bad word that can't be used, even to acknowledge the best man player, in a game played exclusively by men?'

Not easy: The actress acknowledged that her activism and the MeToo movement had taken a toll on her health

Men, women, humans: While saying she hoped society would move towards removing 'men' and 'women' labels, she said she would not want GQ Men of the Year to change its name

Activist: Her appearance on British television came during an ongoing row over the New Yorker article in which she and others accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct and assault

In complete agreement with Mr Morgan, Ms McGowan replied: 'I don't think there is anything wrong with that [Man of the Match] and I agree with you.

'What is cool about the GQ Men of the Year awards is they are not changing it to Human of the Year, I am just an honorary man this year.

'No [I do not want to change it]. I think it is its own institution and it's OK to have institution.'

Later in the interview, she addressed the risk of false accusations being made in the wake of the MeToo movement, playing down such risks because of 'the hell you go through just to speak truth… it really whittles down the false accusation thing.

'I believe we're getting to be more adult and we're having a collective conversation, that's all we need to do.'

Speaking of the toll her activism and the MeToo campaign had taken on her, Ms McGowan said: 'I do sometimes fear for my health in the long term, the stress levels.'

Less friendly tone: Ms McGowan also appeared on Jeremy Vine and slammed those linking MeToo to what is and is not ok when 'flirting'

She later appeared on the Jeremy Vine On 5 where she hit out at the media for allowing discussions about the MeToo movement to veer into 'flirting'.

'That's not it. This is not what MeToo is. What Tarana Burke, the woman who created MeToo wrote about was "were you sexually assaulted, were you harassed - me too."

'It's simply a way for people to engage and have a conversation about pain about hurt about loss about suffering - it's not about flirting.

'I'm really tired of my work and others work getting misinterpreted by the media who is continually allowing questions that are off base and are not even about what MeToo is.'