How Nadiya keeps her panic ‘monster’ at bay

TELEVISION CHEF Nadiya Hussain has told how she keeps the “monster” of her panic disorder at bay by saying yes to as many opportunities as possible.

She said that taking on new challenges that “scare the living daylights” out of her, helps her to combat confidence issues that still creep in following her success since winning The Great British Bake Off two years ago.

While she made no secret of her nerves when presenting her stunning bakes to the judges during the competition, she has since developed her own hit cookery books and food-based documentaries filmed around the world, and also presents current BBC culinary contest The Big Family Cooking Showdown.

But speaking to comedian John Bishop for his In Conversation With series on UKTV, the baking champion, who is originally from Leeds, said: “I don’t feel like I’m a different person, I’m not a new woman, I’ve not suddenly become this confident person that can speak and isn’t scared. “Nobody lives their whole life without being scared... And the one thing I’ve learnt about panic disorder and about my monster, is that my monster would love for me to be scared and say no to everything. “Every time I’m faced with something that scares the living daylights out of me, I have to say yes to it. Because if I say yes to it, then I will come out on the other side of fear and then I can put my monster in my pocket.”