Former Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha has said she is the "poorest" she has ever been since leaving the ITV show, but that she feels "the richest" and "free".
Speaking on a podcast episode with tarot reader Miss Leigh Ding, Sawalha discussed how life has changed since her final episode of Loose Women, which came amid an alleged row over her support for Palestinian rights.
Leaving Loose Women and feeling free
Sawalha said: "The last few months have been really crazy, with leaving Loose Women and continuing with my advocacy. I feel, though I'm the poorest I've ever been, I feel the richest. I feel free, I feel so committed and yeah, I feel very good."
Miss Leigh Ding said she felt Sawalha had shed an air of "shame" and seemed "lighter" now. Sawalha agreed, saying that although she enjoyed being on Loose Women, her own YouTube channel with husband Mark Adderley gave her the same feeling.
Running her own YouTube channel
"The thing is, Mark and I have been running our YouTube channel for quite a few years now and I always said Loose Women was the most real show because you're sharing your s**t," she said.
"You're talking about all sorts of things. And so you're seeing much more so than a lot of presenting, which is like 'We're here and you're over there'. It was sharing a lot, but on my channel, it's really real. I love that. I never want to do anything that makes people feel less than."
Anxiety and a free voice
Elsewhere in the interview, Sawalha said she was happy to no longer be on television due to the anxiety she felt when going on air. The former EastEnders and Loose Women star said: "I am happy to not be on telly and I'm happy to have a free voice."
Describing how television work affected her, she continued: "I was so anxious. The anxiety was horrendous. It's unlike anything else, because you don't get any real double takes - it's just literally 'remember your lines and don't bump into the furniture.'"
She added that, despite the trolls who criticised her online, no one could get to her anymore as she "had so many trolls" in her own head and felt "no troll has ever said anything nastier" than she had to herself.
Referencing her YouTube show, Coffee Moaning, again, she said she was "grateful" to have that outlet, as she feels she has a "much more meaningful voice" now than when she was on TV. "Television is a dying place, it really is," she continued. "And it's a silencer."
Legal action against ITV
Sawalha's comments come after she and a legal organisation representing her sent a pre-action letter to ITV, claiming the broadcaster had "subjected Nadia to direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment because of her protected philosophical beliefs".
This came amid an alleged row over her vocal support of Palestinian rights. In an Instagram video, the star said she was the "target of an escalating campaign of smears, complaints, hostile media coverage and targeted calls to have [her] removed from Loose Women". She added that, after "speaking out against brutal oppression", her critics accused her of promoting false claims and conspiracies, and that ITV took her on and off Loose Women several times.
