Saira Khan appeared on 'Loose Women' on Wednesday (03.05.17) to blast a Twitter troll who told her he felt "disgraced" as a fellow Muslim to see her pose in a bikini for the show's #MyBodyMyStory campaign.
Saira Khan on Loose Women
The 47-year-old TV star told her fellow panellists Linda Robson, Janet Street-Porter and Ruth Langsford that she had received a hate-filled message on the social media platform which described her decision to appear in the photo shoot with the other Loose Women as "evil".
However, Saira insisted she was proud to be have had the courage to show off her body and wasn't going to be made to feel bad by the "misogynist".
She said: "I just felt really, really sad. All my other colleagues were getting so much praise, no one mentioning their religion or what they represent. But for me, I was the only Muslim woman in the whole shoot and I got criticism. To clarify I got lots of support from the Muslim community - but there were a few people who decided to take it the wrong way."
Saira read out the message on the chat show which included the part: "Your body parts are precious to you, as a Muslim I am disgraced to see this, you are a role model for many but this is not the way."
'The Apprentice' runner-up said: "My family are Muslim and I have to be very careful about what I say and I've kept my mouth shut for a very long time but I decided for the first time to confront this head on as I've had enough of people having a go at my mum for the things that I decide to do. I'm 47, I'm married, I've got two children, I now feel confident to say enough is enough."
Saira did say that her own mother was nervous about the shoot because she knew what the aftermath could entail for the family.
She said: "I just kind of wanted to say that, look I am a Muslim, and I am very happy to take part in this campaign. For me it has helped lots of women of colour to say, 'look yeah our bodies look like that, we're a bit darker, we've got stretch marks, you know, we've got a bit of belly, we are normal too'. What hurt me was to say this is 'evil', that as a Muslim I was representing evil. Me in a bikini is not evil ... killing innocent people in the name of my religion that is evil."
Saira continued her rant describing the person who messaged her as "misogynist, backward, brainwashed and idiotic".
She fumed: "I've come on here and I've told people that my body was abused at the age of 13 without my permission by a family member, that affected me as a person, as a woman for the rest of my life.
"That's why I wanted to do it. Forget my religion, forget my colour, just as a woman to be able to feel confident to stand there and say at long last I'm actually really happy."
Tagged in Ruth Langsford Linda Robson