Former Loose Women panellist Saira Khan believes she received death threats because she is a 'direct threat to the patriarchy' for wanting to live life her own way.
The mum-of-two to son Zach, 12, and daughter Amara, nine, has involved the police as she takes a stand against the hate she's been receiving on a daily basis and is something that appears to have worsened since she admitted she was no longer a practicing Muslim.
But Saira, 50, who announced she was leaving Loose Women after five years on the panel, has given her thoughts on the vile abuse she has received online since revealing the truth about her faith.
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She told her 94.5k Instagram followers that the backlash was because, ‘I’m a WOMAN saying “I want to life my life on my terms”.’ Saira continued, ‘A woman with a voice, owning her body, financially independent making her own life choices and having independent thought – that is a direct threat to the patriarchy and misogynists.
Saira, who hoped she'd be replaced by an LGBT host on Loose Women, went on to explain how she, like others, are now speaking out without fear.
She said, 'Brown girls have grown up. And we are thinking and speaking out on our platforms without fear, guilt or shame. I have been manipulated by others to be the “brown girl”, they want me to be. They either want you to bash your own, or your own to bash you.
She defiantly added, 'I’m the Brown Girl I WANT TO BE! My platform. My words. My thoughts. My truth.'
It comes after Saira, who is married to Steve Hyde, previously revealed she only followed the Muslim faith to make her family happy.
At the time, she told the Mirror, "As a 50-year-old educated, independent woman with my own family and life experiences, I now have the courage to say that I’m not practising,’ she told The Mirror. ‘As a woman, the more pious you are, the more respect your family is given. My family mean the world to me, so I’ve pretended to be someone I’m not to make them happy."
But the TV star has decided enough is enough and revealed the "disgusting, abhorrent, vile words" that she receives on a daily basis with her followers.
She added, 'I cannot brush this hatred and misogyny under the carpet. It is what is happening to women of my colour and heritage behind closed doors. It has to stop. Women cannot be feared into silence. We live in Britain. But sometimes I feel nobody gives a s**t about what women like me on a public platform have to go through. Sometimes it’s not even about colour or religion. It’s just about the fact we are women. Until you call it out. It will continue to destroy lives.'
