Saira Khan opens up about struggles with depression after 'The Apprentice'

Loose Women panellist Saira Khan has opened up about her struggles with severe depression in the wake of her stint on The Apprentice in 2005.

The 48-year-old was the runner-up on the first series of the BBC reality show, where she lost out to Tim Campbell in the race to win a £100,000-a-year job with Lord Alan Sugar.

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Khan, speaking in the wake of the death of 26-year-old Love Island contestant Mike Thalassitis at the weekend, said on Loose Women that people judged her in the street after she appeared on The Apprentice.

“You go from an ordinary life and then you’re put onto TV and what people see is an edited version of you,” she said. “They don’t know anything about you apart from what they see on TV.”

The presenter and businesswoman said she went into a “negative spiral” for a long time after she first entered the spotlight.

She said: “People felt like the owned me. I had well-known journalists comment about my life and who they thought I was.”

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Khan credited her “very supportive husband”, Steven Hyde, for helping her to recover and urged young men, particularly, to seek help if they are struggling with their mental health.

Since her time on The Apprentice, Khan has appeared as a co-presenter on The Martin Lewis Money Show and hosted game shows Guess This House and Beat The Boss, as well as competing in the 2016 series of Celebrity Big Brother.

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Earlier this year, she appeared on ITV’s Dancing On Ice with professional skater Mark Hanretty, making it to the third week.