Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain says wedding day was ‘worst day of my life’

The baking enthusiast said she would never push her children into an arranged marriage
Tearful: Nadiya Hussain with her husband Abdal Hussain
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
Emma Powell15 August 2016
The Weekender

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Nadiya Hussain has revealed her wedding day was one of the worst days of her life.

The Great British Bake Off champion entered into an arranged marriage with husband Abdal when she was 19-years-old and said she cried throughout the whole ceremony.

Speaking about the big day in new BBC documentary, The Chronicles of Nadiya, Hussain said: “I have to say my wedding day was one of the worst days of my life. One of the unspoken rules is as a bride you have to behave submissively and look downcast.

"I was an emotional wreck and I cried through the whole thing. I didn’t smile very much.

"You are literally on show and it’s something I was always really uncomfortable with. The bride will often keep her head down.

"I never really understood it.

“It’s bizarre a bride is unhappy on her wedding day, when really she should be happy.”

Hussain said she would not organise an arranged marriage for her children despite being happily married to Abdal.

“If I was the person I am now, I certainly would not have gone into a contract,” she said.

“I wouldn’t take out a mortgage contract without knowing how much money I am putting in and what my mortgage is, so why would I sign a marriage contract where I don’t know what I am getting myself into?

“I want something different for my children. I wouldn’t dream of arranging a marriage.”

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Hussain recently opened up about the racial abuse she suffers and revealed it has become a “part of my life”.

Speaking on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs she said: "I expect to be shoved or pushed or verbally abused, because it happens, it's happened for years."

She said she stays silent because she wants to be the better person, and to prevent her children from having a negative attitude to living in the UK.

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