Former Loose Women panelist Saira Khan has admitted that she’s glad she removed herself from the ‘toxic’ abuse of being on the ITV show.
The 51-year-old TV star revealed that she felt empowered after quitting the panel show after the online abuse became too much for her to handle.
The outspoken star is an advocate for raising awareness on certain taboo subjects, but admitted that she felt as though she was being held back while on Loose Women as viewers would slam her for speaking out.
Saira, who was a regular Loose Women panelist from 2015 to 2020, admitted that another reason she left was due to the fact she had ‘outgrown’ the show.
Lifting the lid on her time on the ITV show, Saira told OK! Magazine : “It was a mixture of things. Firstly, I’d outgrown the programme.
The TV star went on to reveal that she realised after some time that some of the women on the panel were not her true friends.
Saira confessed: “There were some women that I just thought, “I’ve got to just tolerate you to do the job and in real life you wouldn’t be my friend.” They’d say the same about me.
“I shared a lot about myself on that show – my abuse, adoption, arranged marriage and a lot of relationship stuff. You don’t get a lot of thanks for that,” she continued.
One of the main reasons Saira decided to finally throw in the towel was down to the mass amount of abuse she received on social media after sharing her thoughts on taboo topics such as abuse, arranged marriages and female incontinence.
“It wasn’t easy walking away from a good job, but the amount of trolling you get online is horrendous. It just becomes toxic for women. It’s a show for women but I don’t feel like it empowered me,” Saira insisted.
Thankfully, since leaving the show, Saira is no longer targetted on social media.
And as a result, the TV star has grown in confidence.
During the candid interview, Saira also admitted that she’s still friends with some of her former Loose Women stars.
The ITV star still keep in touch with Coleen Nolan, Ruth Langsford, Linda Robson, and Christine Lampard.
Saira made the decision to permanently leave the Loose Women panel last year.
