Great British Bake Off star Nadiya Hussain has revealed her grandfather was racially abused by bullies and was “left for dead three times”.
The 39-year-old is a second-generation British Bangladeshi and grew up in Luton, Bedfordshire, before delighting 15 million fans of the BBC cooking show when she won the sixth series in 2015.
But Ms Hussain has revealed the hardships her family faced: “When my grandfather came to the country, he was horribly abused by racists and left for dead three times.”
‘But she refused to leave because she saw that her children and grandchildren would have a better life here than in Bangladesh.
Great British Bake Off star Nadiya Hussain has revealed her grandfather was racially abused by bullies and “left for dead three times”.
“And he made that sacrifice, even though he knew he wasn’t welcome. I know he would be very proud of me because he now has a granddaughter with an OBE, and that would mean belonging,” she told the BBC. Radio times.
This comes after the award-winning chef had to install panic buttons in her Milton Keynes home after receiving death threats, including those directed at her three children – Musa, 12, Dawud, 11, and Mariam, eight.
She said: “I was given descriptions of how I and my children were supposed to die. The most horrible things. When we go out, we are careful.”
After appearing on the BBC’s flagship programme in 2015, Ms Hussain detailed how racist abuse had become part of her everyday life.
The 39-year-old is a second-generation British Bangladeshi and grew up in Luton, Bedfordshire (pictured with her father).
Ms Hussain has revealed the difficulties her family faces: “When my grandfather came to the country, he was severely abused by racists” (pictured with her mother).
The award-winning chef had to install panic buttons in her Milton Keynes home after receiving death threats, including against her three children – Musa, 12, Dawud, 11, and Mariam, eight.
In 2016, she told Desert Island Discs: ‘It sounds really, really silly, but I feel like it’s become a part of my life now. I look forward to it.
I expect to be pushed, shoved, or verbally abused because that happens, it has happened for years.
Read the full interview in this week’s Radio Times
‘I love being British and I love living here. This is my home and it always will be, regardless of all the other things that define me.’
‘This is my home and I want my children to be proud of it. I don’t want them to grow up with a feeling of resentment, so I live as positively as I can.’
Ms Hussain’s appearance and subsequent popularity on the Great British Bake Off has been hailed as an important step towards changing stereotypes about the Muslim community and embracing cultural diversity.
Having amassed a huge following on social media, her fans describe themselves as Nadiyators and have supported her burgeoning career from a BBC One travel show, The Chronicles of Nadiya, to several columns in magazine nutritional supplements.
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