She emerged victorious in the GBBO final, which was witnessed by 13 million viewers making it the most watched television programme in 2015. Her emotional winner’s speech even saw Mary Berry tear up when discussing her victory.
However, despite the positivity surrounding her win she was still subject to abuse online, much of it being on the grounds that she is a Muslim.
Appearing on ITV's Loose Women on Wednesday, the popular contestant discussed the anti-Muslim abuse she received on social media and the subsequent police presence at her home in Leeds as a result.
“There was quite a lot of negativity on Twitter, I tried really hard not to look at it…You know you can do two things, the old me would have very much said just regretted everything and there were times when I thought ‘What have I done, am I putting my kids in danger? What am I doing?’”
“[My husband Abdul] was always the one to just say ‘you know what, it’s ok’, they're such a minority and it doesn’t matter… if anything I proved to myself that I can have the confidence not to care what people think and for me that’s what came out of it all.”
Responding to a question by guest panellist and I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here winner Vicky Pattinson, Hussain admitted police visited: “We had to have people come in and check that we’re ok.
“For me, some of the tweets I looked at, I thought it’s nothing it’s fine… but you know everybody wanted to make sure that we were safe and that we were ok and well.
When Pattison asked if that was scary, she replied: “It was, but my kids loved it like ‘woo policemen’."
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Since winning the series, Hussain, 31, has signed a book deal and written columns and recipes for various magazines.
The Independent has contacted West Yorkshire police for comment.
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