{"id":729480,"date":"2026-08-06T15:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T15:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/729480\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T15:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T15:42:10","slug":"nadia-sawalha-takes-legal-action-against-itv-after-loose-women-absence-and-demands-apology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/729480\/","title":{"rendered":"Nadia Sawalha takes legal action against ITV after Loose Women absence and demands apology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Loose Women<\/a> presenter Nadia Sawalha<\/a> is taking legal action against ITV, with the panellist and actor alleging that she has been treated “unlawfully” following her absence from the daytime series.<\/p>\n

In a post on Instagram<\/a> from Thursday (6 August), Sawalha said in a video: “My legal team at ELSC have today written to ITV alleging that I have been treated unlawfully due to my protected beliefs. <\/p>\n

“Now, before I say anything else, I want to say how sad I am that it’s got to this, believe me. I have appealed to ITV\u2019s hearts and minds, but to no avail,” added the panellist, who first appeared on Loose Women in 1999.<\/p>\n

Related: Loose Women star hits out at ITV over “absolutely brutal” cuts: “I feel tearful about it”<\/a><\/p>\n

Sawalha said that she had been the target of an “escalating campaign of smears, complaints [and] hostile media coverage”, which allegedly included “targeted calls” to have her “removed” from the series. <\/p>\n

She further accused ITV of taking her off Loose Women a “number of times”, and alleged that the television network had justified this by telling her: “It’s all just a bit noisy out there for us.”<\/p>\n

She also claimed that she had been told by ITV that it couldn’t be ‘guaranteed’ that she wouldn’t be taken off the panel again, and that it would “depend on what was said”. She also accused the network of “forever changing the goalposts” regarding the matter.<\/p>\n

She described the matter as the “tip of the iceberg”, before she asked her followers and supporters to sign a petition. In the caption of the post, Sawalha wrote that it was helpful for advocates who had experienced “similar incidents of being silenced or repressed”.<\/p>\n

“It’s not just me that\u2019s been targeted like this for my beliefs,” she continued. “There are the teachers, doctors, nurses, charity and supermarket workers and students who\u2019ve also spoken according to their conscience, and have suffered a similar fate as me. <\/p>\n

\"nadia<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

Related: Why Jordan Stephens is EXACTLY what Loose Women needs<\/a><\/p>\n

“Well, enough is enough. We need to send a clear message to ITV, and other groups and corporations, that we won\u2019t be scared into silence. No one should be bullied out of their job for following their conscience and speaking out against brutal oppression,” she concluded.<\/p>\n

Digital Spy has contacted ITV for comment.
<\/p>\n

Last month, Sawalha and her husband Mark Adderley received apologies, libel damages and legal costs from both the Daily Mail and Metro, with each newspaper being found to have falsely accused the couple of “support for terrorism or hatred of Jews”.<\/p>\n

Loose Women airs on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.<\/p>\n

\"Lettermark\"<\/p>\n

Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies<\/a> and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media. \u00a0His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible<\/a> and John Wick<\/a> to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.
\u00a0<\/p>\n