NADIYA HUSSAIN REVEALS SHE WAS SEXUALLY ABUSED AS A CHILD
October 7, 2019
Sarah Young
Independent
Nadiya Hussain has revealed she was a victim of sexual abuse as a child.
The Great British Bake Off winner said she was sexually assaulted by a relative at the age of five while living in Bangladesh.
Hussain said the ordeal left her suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic attacks and suicidal thoughts
“No doubt that would have played a role in my PTSD, my panic disorder,” Hussain said in an interview with You magazine,
“It must have done, because it’s a memory that has stayed with me for ever.”
The 34-year-old, who details the abuse in her forthcoming memoir Finding My Voice, said she only fully understood what had happened during a sex education class at school
Hussian said the realisation made her throw up in a sink in the science laboratory.
“I’ve only told my sisters recently and, growing up, I had a close friend at school who I told. It turned out a very similar thing had happened to her,” Hussain said.
“It’s important to talk about it because it probably happens much more than we care to talk about.
“If that happened to my children, I don’t even want to say what I would do… I have no words.”
The baker added that her husband, Abdal, guaged her state of mind by looking at the colour of the headscarf she was wearing.
“Abdal calls them the mood scarves,” Hussain said.
“So if I wear black he knows I’m probably not having a very good day, but if I’m wearing something a little bit colourful he’s like, ‘Oh, are you all right today?”
Hussain previously revealed she had her first panic attack at 11-years-old when school bullies dunked her head in the toilet.
Speaking on Loose Women, she explained that her triggers can be as simple as a bathroom door opening, and that she still gets flashbacks when she goes to the toilet.
“Every time I go to the toilet, and I’m 34-years-old, I cannot take that image out of my head,” Hussain said.
“That image is always in my head. I’ve tried for years to get rid of it but I can’t. That was when I first had a panic attack – when my head was flushed down the toilet.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/nadiya-hussain-gbbo-sexual-abuse-child-a9144746.html
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