Bake Off Nadiya: I’ve had so much racist abuse, it is part of my life now
SHE won the hearts of the nation when she stormed to success in the Great British Bake Off last year.
But while Nadiya Hussain has since amassed millions of fans and carved out a highly lucrative career, the mother of three has revealed she has suffered so much racist abuse during her life that she has come to expect it.
The 31-year-old star, one of six children born to Bangladeshi parents, makes the shocking revelation on today’s Desert Island Discs.
She says: ‘I’ve had things thrown at me and been pushed and jabbed. It sounds really silly because I feel that it’s just become a part of my life now.
‘I expect it. I absolutely expect to be shoved or pushed or verbally abused because it happens. It’s been happening for years.’
During the interview with host Kirsty Young, Luton-born Nadiya says she believes the best way to deal with such abuse is to refuse to react and instead instil a love of Britain in her own family.
‘I don’t retaliate. I just feel like there is a dignity in silence. I think if I retaliate to negativity with negativity then we’ve evened out. I don’t need to even that out because if somebody is being negative I need to be the better person. Because I have young children, the one thing I don’t want my kids to do is have a negative attitude of living in the UK.
‘Yes, there are those negative people but they are the minority. I love being British and I love living here. This is my home and it always will be regardless of all the other things that define me.
‘I want my kids to be proud of that. I don’t want my kids to grow up with a chip on their shoulder, so I live as positively as I can.’
Nadiya’s revelations will shock fans who believed her success on one of Britain’s most popular TV shows was proof that racial tensions here were a thing of the past. Her life has been transformed by the success of the show. She now has her own newspaper column, has written a cookbook and is preparing to release her first novel.
About 15million viewers watched her triumph in an highly emotional final last year which even had veteran judge Mary Berry wiping away the tears. But Nadiya admits there were times, particularly during the early stages, when she regretted taking part.
She recalls the incident in week one – dubbed ‘walnut cake gate’ – when she was ranked 12th out of 12 because of her poor icing skills.
She says: ‘I was distraught. I beat myself up about that. I still can’t look at walnut cake.’
Desert Island Discs is broadcast today on BBC Radio 4 at 11.15am.