Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

GBBO winner Nadiya says 'life would have been so much easier if I wasn't brown'

GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF winner Nadiya Hussain said life for her would have been so much easier if she wasn't brown, but she has now learned to embrace both her 'Britishness' and her 'Bangladeshiness'.

Nadiya, 36, admitted on BBC Three documentary Being British Bangladeshi that there have been times when "she wanted to bleach the brown out of her skin".


The TV chef and baker born in Luton to Bangladeshi parents, said on the show: "I'm a firm believer that as a Bangladeshi and a British, I will take the good bits from this bit, and the good bits from that bit.

"I believe we live happily in that grey area. I'm proud to say that I mix up my "Britishness" and my "Bangledeshiness" in cookbooks that people actually really like."

She added: "There are times when I've wanted to bleach the brown out of me - because life would have been so much easier if I wasn't brown, if I wasn't Bangladeshi, if I could just be like everybody else.

"But I come with all of those layers that I do represent and I understand the importance of that now."

Nadiya, who won Great British Bake Off in 2015, said she has become more comfortable talking about racism in the years since winning the show.

Nadiya, who now lives in London with her husband and three children, said last year that she's experienced more racism in the last five years working on TV than ever before in her life.

She took to Instagram and said: "Just because you don’t experience racism, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, it does!

"I have experienced more racism in 5 years working in the TV/Food industry than any other time of my life and it’s time to call it out!"

More For You

single-sex spaces

Symbols for women and men are displayed outside a toilet in Piccadilly Circus Underground Station, in London, May 21, 2026.

Reuters

UK issues new rules on single-sex spaces after court ruling

THE GOVERNMENT on Thursday said new guidance on single-sex spaces still protects transgender people, after publishing long-awaited advice following a landmark Supreme Court ruling.

The guidance follows the Supreme Court’s decision in April last year that a woman is legally defined by sex at birth.

Keep ReadingShow less