Saira Khan has explained that she posed naked or OK! magazine to “make peace” with her body before she turns 50.
Image Source/ Birmingham Mail
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The Loose Women panellist wore just a white sheet over her bare body for the photo shoot.
Appearing on the ITV show on Monday (11.11.19), she said:
‘I didn’t have anything on. Doing this was about coming to peace with the battles I have had with my body from a very young age.
‘I’m 50 next year and want to make peace with myself. I don’t what my 50th year to be full of hang ups’.
Saira was sexually abused by a male family member at the age 13, when she lived in Pakistan, and she admitted that ever since then she has never seen her body as “a sexual thing”.
She shared:
‘I’m happily married, I’ve got two amazing children. I’m fit and I’m healthy and I’m really happy with my life.
‘My body was taken advantage of against my will when I was younger. From that moment, I never saw this is a sexual thing’.
Saira – who has struggled to conceive naturally and adopted her daughter Amara in 2011 – also admitted that parts of her body and skin, which have been affected by her IVF treatment and going through the menopause, have made her feel like she “can never be sexy”, and she says she felt it was time to “make an effort” for her husband Steve Hyde – with whom she has also son Zachariah – and for “the sake of [her] marriage”.
She continued:
‘In the 80s I had big thighs, a bottom and no boobs.
‘I couldn’t show my body because I come from a modest culture and I respect my culture.
‘My body went through failed pregnancies, my body went through IVF, my body recently went through the menopause.
‘There were parts of my body where my skin was so bad I thought “I can never be sexy.”
‘I started putting my underwear on and wondered “When did I get to big pants?”
‘I thought I had to make more of an effort for my husband and the sake of my marriage.
‘I just thought, “I’m going to celebrate it because I’m at peace with myself”.’
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Saira is no longer ashamed of her body, she told the magazine:
‘My body no longer makes me feel guilty, it gives me pride and strength’.
And the former Dancing on Ice star revealed her husband is planning to have the cover enlarged so he can place it on their bedroom wall.
She quipped:
‘Steve said he’s going to blow up one of the pictures and put it on the wall. I told him “you can look at that when you go to bed but do not disturb me”. I’ll have my onesie on’.
It was a brave decision for Saira to publicly bare all, because Pakistani culture requires women to cover up in public, and she admitted that it’s “difficult” for her mother, but she informed her and her two kids that she did it for “the right reasons”.
She told her fellow Loose Women panellists:
‘I had to sit down my kids and describe why I’m doing it. It was a family decision.
‘It’s difficult for my mum because people will say, “what has your daughter done?”
‘I get my strength from my mum.
‘She has done things out in the community that I would never do so I just say “mum I love you and just know I did it for the right reasons”‘.
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