Saira Khan has claimed her sudden exit from Loose Women came down to ITV bosses trying to make her join OnlyFans.
However, a spokesperson for Loose Women told MailOnline: ‘We strongly refute all of these claims. Duty of care is of paramount importance for all of our panellists. Saira left the Loose Women panel almost two years ago and we wish her well.’
It comes after the former panellist, 52, told The Mirror: ‘The straw that broke the camel’s back was when one of the young producers was sent running after me to ask whether I would be prepared to open an OnlyFans account.’
Shocking: Saira Khan has claimed her sudden exit from Loose Women came down to ITV bosses trying to make her join OnlyFans
Saira explained: ‘To say I was shocked was an understatement. I could see she herself was mortified to ask me. I replied, ‘You’re asking an Asian woman who has a husband and kids and comes from a Muslim family to open an OnlyFans account?
‘It’s just on your social media you’ve been posting images in your underwear and we thought if you could go undercover to see the kind of response you get from men, it would make a great story.
‘There and then, I knew my time was up on the show. I felt humiliated, angry, disappointed and like fodder.’
Saira claimed she loves TV presenting but knew she could no longer work in a ‘toxic’ environment for the sake of her own mental health.
A source exclusively told MailOnline: ‘Saira exchanged many warm text and whatsapp messages thanking production members for being so supportive whilst working on the programme, so the notion of ‘producers not supporting’ doesnt ring true.
‘The thread of the messages from Saira to Loose Women production – and there are lots of them – thank them for the wealth of support she received when working on the show which ‘she will never forget’ and for ongoing ‘kindness.’ This does feel at odds with the claims made today.’
Exit: The former panellist, 52, also told how she was asked to have a mould made of her vagina for a Body Stories campaign
ITV have come under fire over the mental health of employees after a series of high-profile suicides, including that of former Love Island host Caroline Flack aged 40.
The TV personality also told how she was asked to have a mould made of her vagina for a Body Stories campaign.
The former panellist previously revealed there were certain women on the show’s panel that she ‘just had to tolerate’ in order to ‘do the job’.
Following her departure Saira blocked Nadia Sawalha, Kaye Adams and Jane Moore from viewing her Instagram posts.
While it had initially been believed that the trio of panellists had unfollowed their former co-star, the source told MailOnline all three were unceremoniously blocked.
But Saira is still following other famous faces from the chat show, including Stacey Solomon, Brenda Edwards and Ruth Langsford.
Likewise, the ex-Apprentice star has not deleted Loose Women’s Linda Robson, Coleen Nolan, Denise Welch, Kelle Bryan and Judi Love from her Instagram.
Not friends: Some of the Loose Women stars pictured (Judi Love, Nadia Sawalha, Kaye Adams and Stacey Solomon) both Nadia and Kaye have been blocked by Saira
Speaking in a new interview, the Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins star confessed she ‘wouldn’t be friends in real life’ with all of her co-stars and added that the coveted TV job ‘became toxic’.
Speaking to The Mirror, Saira explained when asked why she left the show: ‘Firstly, I’d outgrown the programme. There were some women that I just thought, ‘I’ve got to just tolerate you to do the job and in real life you wouldn’t be my friend.’
‘They’d say the same about me,’ she added, continuing: ‘Plus, I shared a lot about myself on that show – my abuse, adoption, arranged marriage and a lot of relationship stuff. You don’t get a lot of thanks for that.’
Asked about whether she considers her departure the right decision, Saira went on: ‘Yes. When you turn up to a job where your heart’s not in it, the only thing you can do is make a change […] when you’re there discussing a subject with your friends in a very innocent way, the amount of trolling you get online is horrendous. It just becomes toxic for women.’
The straight-talking star added that she no longer felt her time on the show was empowering because of the abuse she endured online.
She said her situation on the show was very comfortable with a good wardrobe, friends and money, but the toxicity grew and trolling got too much to handle for her.
At the time of her departure in January, Saira appeared to take a thinly-veiled swipe at Loose Women.
The TV personality shared a cryptic post that said: ‘They wanna see you do good but never better than them,’ while also stating that she won’t ‘limit’ herself to satisfy others.
Happier times: The TV personality announced she was quitting the show after five years earlier this month, due to ‘reassessing her priorities’ (pictured 2019 with the panel)
Source: | Dailymail.co.uk