Saira Khan appeared to take a thinly-veiled swipe at Loose Women on Saturday after announcing her departure from the ITV show this week to ‘reassess her priorities’.
The TV personality, 50, shared a cryptic post that said: ‘They wanna see you do good but never better than them,’ while also stating that she won’t ‘limit’ herself to satisfy others.
In a revealing interview a few days prior, she said that the other Loose Women panellists have ‘had their time’, and that she didn’t tell any of them she was leaving after five years on the programme.
Revealing: Saira Khan appeared to take a thinly-veiled swipe at Loose Women on Saturday after announcing her departure from the ITV show this week to ‘reassess her priorities’
Her recent Instagram quote read: ‘They wanna see you do good, but never better than them. Remember that.’ (sic)
In another social media upload on Saturday, she shared a quote from Dolly Parton: ‘I’m not going to LIMIT myself just because people won’t accept the fact that I can do something else’.
After New Year’s Day, Saira announced that she was leaving Loose Women, just two weeks after fellow panellist Andrea McLean quit the show.
The TV star explained her ‘difficult’ decision in her column for The Mirror last Saturday, saying the coronavirus crisis made her reassess what’s important.
Candid: The TV personality, 50, shared a cryptic post that said: ‘They wanna see you do good but never better than them,’ while also stating that she won’t ‘limit herself’ to satisfy others
Detailing how she felt she had ‘nothing left to share’, Saira claimed she now wants to focus on her skincare brand and other projects.
Saira wrote: ‘Many people, including myself, have rediscovered the importance of putting our lives into perspective.
‘We’ve been able to look at what’s really important to us. It has certainly made me assess my priorities, values and how I want to move forward with my life.
‘So I start this new year by saying goodbye to Loose Women. After five years of being a regular panellist, I’ve decided to give up my seat to another woman who will benefit from the platform as I did.’
Made up her mind: After she explained her ‘difficult’ decision to leave Loose Women in her column for The Mirror last Saturday, she uploaded an empowering quote from Dolly Parton
Claiming that it felt like she was ‘graduating’ from University, she said she was keen to pursue other opportunities in life so she thought it was the right time to ‘bow out’.
Saira told fans that she had shown people she was ‘an opinionated, strong woman’, and said that the COVID-19 crisis has simply helped her realise that her job no longer gave her satisfaction.
The TV personality concluded her column by urging viewers to look after themselves mentally and physically, and to ‘find your balance’, as a job won’t do that for them.
In an interview with New! Magazine a few days later, she expressed her belief that some other Loose Women panellists should exit the ITV show.
Saira said: ‘I actually think there are other women on that show who have had their time and they need to renew and refresh.
‘I don’t mean anyone in particular, to keep that show fresh and relevant you have to look around and you know when your time is up.’
Saira said she decided not to tell her co-stars about her departure because she wanted to announce it ‘on my terms’ and didn’t ‘want a big drama’.
Honest: Saira said that the other Loose Women panellists have ‘had their time’ and that she didn’t tell any of them she was leaving after five years on the show (pictured with Coleen Nolan, Ruth Langsford, Priscilla Presley, Jane Moore in 2015)
The former Apprentice star added about how sometimes voicing her opinions on the show made her a victim of trolling.
She told the publication: ‘At times I really put my neck on the line and got threats and abuse from the [Asian] community when talking about taboo subjects.’
However Saira said she feels like she had done her duty to represent women from her background and would love to see ‘a gay or transgender woman take my seat’.
Saira lives in Oxford with her husband Steve Hyde, they share two children Zac, 12, and Amara, nine, who they adopted from Pakistan in 2011.
Family: The TV sensation lives in Oxford with her husband Steve Hyde, they share two children Zac, 12, and Amara, nine, who they adopted from Pakistan in 2011 (pictured)