Loose Women star Saira Khan has spoken about working on the show, the reason she quit and the panellists she is still friends with following her departure in a new interview.
Speaking to Woman’s Own magazine, the former Apprentice contestant - who was a runner up in the first season of the show back in 2005 – talked about her five years on Loose Women from 2015 until 2020 when she walked away from the series. Addressing the reason she left Loose Women, she told the magazine: “It was more about me growing up and saying, ‘Look, this is what I like, and this is what I don’t like,’ and some of the things that go on, I was just not comfortable with it, and I think you have to be honest with it.”
"It doesn’t mean you’re falling out, it just means it’s not enough for me."
She also spoke about her relationship with her fellow panellists during her time on the daytime discussion show. "I recently went out with Ruth [Langsford] to go and see Coleen [Nolan] on her solo tour in Blackpool,” she said. “I keep in touch with Andrea [McLean] and Denise [Welch]. I know people think I fell out with them all, but it wasn’t about the girls, it was more about me to be honest with you."
Since leaving the series, Saira competed in SAS: Who Dares Wins alongside celebrities including Kerry Katona, James Cracknell, Alexandra Burke and Wes Nelson, and has appeared on morning talk show Jeremy Vine on 5, which she told Woman’s Own she preferred to Loose Women.
"I wouldn’t go back to Loose Women – I’ve done that and I think I’ve come out of it realising I want to move forward, and I want to do things that I really enjoy,” she shared. “Also, Jeremy Vine gives me space to talk about politics as well as just talking about my private life and who I am. I think people can get a bit bored of that, and the same subjects.
"I also like the diversity of it, and that it’s not just all females – there’s men and women, and I quite like that. It’s a bit more real life, and you can have a bit more laughter."
When she joined Jeremy’s show earlier this year, she told The Mirror: "After taking a few years off the telly, it was nice to be back and I didn't realise how much I missed it. It was Jeremy [Vine] who persuaded me to come back."
She added: "I think it's good to have a break and I feel more confident now about who I am and what I want to say."
