Great British Bake Off star Nadiya Hussain has revealed that she was the victim of racial abuse while on a recent train journey. The 31-year-old baker, who was born and raised in Britain by Bangladeshi parents, told her Twitter followers on Thursday that a man had said he would not sit near her because she is Muslim.
She wrote: "A man refused to sit next to me on the train today 'I ain't sitting near a Muslin' he said. His ignorance is his own ruin."
© Photo: TwitterNadiya Hussain has revealed she was the recent victim of racial abuse
The incident was understandably met with outrage by her 127,000 followers – including 2016 Bake Off contestant Rav Bansal, who replied: "Unfortunately a similar thing happened to me again recently. You are a much better person than he will ever be."
Nadiya has previously spoken about being on the receiving end of racial abuse – and admitted she has now come to expect it as part of her daily life. Speaking on Desert Island Discs, she said: "It sounds really silly because I feel like that's just become part of my life now. I expect it. Absolutely I expect it.
"I expect to be shoved or pushed or verbally abused because it happens and it's been happening for years." But, she added, she refuses to retaliate because "there's dignity in silence".
The Bake Off winner pictured with her husband Abdal Hussain
"I don't want my children to have a negative attitude to living in the UK. Yes, there are those negative people but they are the minority," the mum-of-three said.
"I love being British, I love being here and this is my home. I don't want my kids to grow up with a chip on their shoulder. All those things that have happened to me? Hey it happens, and it happens to other people too, and we deal with it."
