Nadia Sawalha has announced she is taking legal action against ITV, alleging she was effectively “bullied out” of Loose Women because of her pro-Palestinian views.
The 61-year-old presenter, who has not appeared on the daytime panel show since April, shared a video on Instagram on Thursday claiming she had been treated unlawfully because of her “protected beliefs”.
Sawalha, one of the original Loose Women panellists when the programme launched in 1999, said she had repeatedly been taken on and off the show's line-up since publicly expressing support for Palestine in 2023.
She claimed producers told her: “It's all a bit noisy out there for us.”
Announcing the legal challenge, Sawalha said: “Before I say anything else, I want to say how sad I am that it has got to this. Believe me, I have appealed to ITV's hearts and minds but to no avail.”
“My legal team at ELSC [European Legal Support Centre] have today written to ITV alleging that I have been treated unlawfully due to my protected beliefs. Now before I say anything else, I want to say how sad I am that it has got to this. Believe me, I have appealed to ITV's hearts and minds but to no avail.
She alleged that after speaking publicly in support of Palestine, she became the target of “an escalating campaign of smears, complaints, hostile media coverage and targeted calls” for her removal from the programme.
“And since then, ITV have taken me on and off Loose Women a number of times,” she alleged. “I've mostly been told that the reason for this was, and I quote: ‘It's all a bit noisy out there for us.’”
Sawalha also claimed ITV had received a 20-page letter from a group of prominent pro-Israel media figures urging bosses not to reinstate her, but said she had never been shown the document or given the opportunity to respond to its contents.
“ITV have continued to take me on and off Loose Women, continuing to change the goal posts whilst also saying they couldn't guarantee they wouldn't take me off again as it would depend on what was said,” she claimed. “Even though I am hired for being an opinionated women on a discussion show and I have never spoken about Palestine directly on the show.”
The presenter said her case went beyond her own circumstances, arguing others had also faced repercussions for expressing their views.
“I want to be clear, it is not just me who has been targeted like this for my beliefs,” she said. “There are the teachers, doctors, charity workers, supermarket workers, students who have also spoken according to their conscience and have suffered a similar fate as me.
“Enough is enough. We need to show ITV and other organisations that we won't be scared into silence and no one should be bullied out of their jobs for speaking according to their conscience and speaking out against brutal oppression.”
Sawalha also urged supporters to sign a petition backing her, saying she wanted to demonstrate there were “many more people with us than against us”.
Earlier this week, the presenter told followers she would explain why she had been absent from Loose Women for several months.
She then postponed the video by 24 hours, citing “legal reasons”.
Reports in June claimed ITV executives had become divided over Sawalha's future on the programme amid controversy surrounding the YouTube channel she runs with her husband, Mark Adderley. It was also reported that a dossier calling for her removal had been sent to senior executives.
Sawalha returned to Loose Women in 2013 after first appearing on the show between 1999 and 2002, and has since been a regular alongside panellists including Coleen Nolan and Kaye Adams.
The Standard has contacted ITV for comment.
