Nadiya Hussain has claimed she receives lower pay “to do the same job as the white version of me” whilst revealing she was forced to quit her primary school teaching assistant position after three months because constant illness from her weakened immune system played “havoc with her health.”
The former Great British Bake Off winner, who suffers from fibromyalgia, made an emotional announcement on Instagram on Tuesday explaining she had to step away from working with children despite calling it “one of the best jobs I’ve ever done.”
Wiping away tears, Hussain stated: “Unfortunately doing a job like that as somebody with a weakened immune system it just played havoc with my health. As you know anyone who works in a school setting there are lots of coughs and colds bugs and I just couldn’t get better. So, I was sick all the time and it got to the point where it was affecting my mental health and I just wasn’t performing, giving my best because I was always sick.”
The mother-of-three, who has a degree in childhood and youth studies, had taken the teaching assistant role after the BBC decided not to commission another of her shows following a decade on screen. She told Instagram followers: “Apart from raising my own children, it was one of the best jobs I’ve ever done. I loved every second of waking up in the morning with a spring in my step for these beautiful children.”
The pay disparity claim came as Hussain spoke out about being a victim of racism in the “broken” TV industry over six months after her June Instagram post addressing the BBC cancellation. She told The Guardian: “People always ask me: ‘Are we doing better? Has it changed?’ It’s broken. This last year has been really important for me to realise that, really accept that, actually, I can’t fix a broken industry.”
Hussain believes the publication of her Muslim-inspired cookbook Rooza last year led to brands dropping her. “It was really interesting, because I felt like people had just twigged, ‘Oh, she’s a Muslim,’ and suddenly I wasn’t palatable any more,” she stated.
She had known since 2024 that Rooza would not be attached to a TV series, discovering last year the BBC would not serialise her next book, Nadiya’s Quick Comforts, either. Whilst admitting she has no evidence Rooza was the reason some brands no longer wanted to work with her, she believes it couldn’t be coincidence that once she brought out work more centered on being Muslim, she wasn’t as appealing.
Hussain remarked that while previous cookbooks had been marketed at everybody, this one didn’t feel as inclusive and she believes it made people feel “uncomfortable.” The TV chef, who soared to fame in 2015 after winning Bake Off, has since hosted BBC shows including Nadiya’s Asian Odyssey, Nadiya’s Cook Once Eat Twice and Nadiya’s Time To Eat.
In her June video, Hussain spoke about “gaslighting” in the TV industry and said as a Muslim woman, she had not always been supported or allowed to fulfil her potential. She admitted feeling “manufactured and comfortable for everyone” before the BBC axed her shows, adding: “I’d become this palatable version of a Muslim that could be on television, that could write cookbooks.”
Hussain, who has frequently spoken out about the “whiteness” of TV and publishing, shared how hard it has been to be the only Muslim woman in a room. She also said the pressure to be grateful has followed her throughout her career, explaining she had “actively silenced” herself because everything felt like an opportunity.
Wanting to now be the most authentic version of herself, Hussain has questioned changes she subconsciously made to fit into the industry. She shared that she even changed the way she wore her headscarf, wrapping only her hair rather than her hair and neck, as it looked more modern.
After leaving her manager and agent in the summer, Hussain wants to focus on doing something herself, even if that means working on a smaller scale. The star hopes to continue publishing books, including something for children.
Despite her brief teaching career ending due to health challenges, Hussain revealed: “It made me realise that there are certain sectors I would like to work in and so it’s just focused me in some ways because I know what areas I would like to work in.” She added: “I worked with some amazing people over the last three months and they know who they are.”
The next decade of Hussain’s professional life remains uncertain following her reflection period after the BBC cancellation. Launched into the limelight via reality TV, she has come to realise she was never in control of her career, feeling like a “caricature of myself” throughout her decade-long television tenure.
