The big interview
Bake Off star Nadiya Hussain on why she wants to show it’s OK to open up
Bake Off’s Nadiya Hussain on finding her voice again
When I look back on myself as a teenager, I didn’t worry about the things that my children worry about now
Not so long ago, Nadiya Hussain would have shied away from being called a role model. But in the four years since winning The Great British Bake Off and becoming a household name, the mum of three has embraced the sense of responsibility that comes with being in the public eye.
Whether it’s speaking honestly about her long battle with anxiety or representing British Muslim women, the 34-year-old believes talking openly is the key to progress, rather than keeping things bottled up inside.
“If you’d asked me four years ago, do you feel a sense of responsibility – you are a Muslim woman in the public eye when there are not that many, if any, of you? I would have said that’s completely incidental and I don’t want to talk about it,” admitted Nadiya.
“Now, that’s definitely changed for me. I do feel a responsibility to be honest and talk about things people don’t talk about.
“I grew up in a community where talking and being honest and speaking about emotions is something you weren’t raised to do.
“I’m raising my children in the completely opposite way to that, teaching them to speak about their emotions and speak about what worries them.
“I’m also British and we have this stoic, stiff upper lip where we say keep calm and carry on, and really, that’s no different to the community I grew up in, where people don’t talk about their emotions or things that happened.
“We’re very much told to get on with it and I’m not about that. I want people to talk about the things that worry them.
“I think by talking about issues close to my heart and having a voice, it allows other people to have a voice and that’s very important.”
The next step in the process is the release of Nadiya’s autobiography, Finding My Voice, in which she reveals she was sexually assaulted as a child, the bullying torment she endured at school and how she had to skip meals before she found fame due to financial constraints.
“I had a battle with myself over writing the book,” she said.“I knew I wanted to write something, but I had to ask myself how much I wanted to write and what I wanted to get out of it.
“I want anyone who picks it up to be able to identify with it, but it was as much for me as it was for everyone else.”
Born in Luton to Bangladeshi parents, Nadiya has five siblings and her dad owned an Indian restaurant.
She was only 20 when she married Abdal in an arranged marriage, and the couple have two sons, Musa and Dawud, and a daughter, Maryam.
It was Abdal who applied for Bake Off on his wife’s behalf and encouraged her to take part.
Nadiya says it was becoming a mum that gave her the courage to pursue everything she has done since.
“There is no responsibility bigger than having children, actually raising human beings, keeping them alive and making them good people,” smiled Nadiya.“So nothing else frightens me any more.”
One parenting worry is the extra issues her kids have to deal with compared to her generation.
“When I look back at myself as