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GBBO winner Nadiya opens up panic disorder struggles

Photo credit: W Channel / UKTV
Photo credit: W Channel / UKTV

From Digital Spy

The Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain has opened up about her struggles with panic disorder.

Appearing on this week's John Bishop: In Conversation With…, Nadiya describes the constant battle as a "monster" and says that it hasn't changed since she rose to fame by winning Bake Off in 2015.

"My whole life revolves around not falling apart. Some days the monster shouts in my face. No matter where I turn, he will keep shouting at me. I can't get him out of my face," she explains.

Photo credit: W Channel / UKTV
Photo credit: W Channel / UKTV

"Other days, he's behind me and he'll tap me on the shoulder a little bit here and there through the day and I can ignore him completely. Other days I can put him in my pocket. He's always there."

Nadiya, who is currently hosting BBC Two's The Big Family Cooking Showdown, says that she doesn't want to take medication and prefers to "have to learn to live with my monster".

"I'm not a new woman. I've not suddenly become this confident person that can speak and isn't scared," she adds of her celebrity status.

Photo credit: BBC
Photo credit: BBC

"The one thing I've learnt about panic disorder and about my monster is that my monster would love for me to be scared and say 'no' to everything. Every time I'm faced with something that scares the living daylights out of me, I have to say 'yes' to it.

"Because if I say 'yes' to it, then I will come out on the other side of fear and then I can put my monster in my pocket."

The full interview with Nadiya airs on John Bishop: In Conversation With… on Thursday (September 21) at 9pm on W.


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