BBC Breakfast star Naga Munchetty recalled being told she was ‘useless’ during the early stages of her journalism career.
The 47-year-old newsreader has been part of the broadcaster for over a decade, and has been a staple on the morning programme alongside the likes of Charlie Stayt and Sally Nugent.
However, Munchetty experienced hardship during the start of her career to the point where she would go home ‘in tears.’
‘I had copy thrown at me when I first started in newspapers,’ she said.
‘I was told I was b****y useless. I did go home many a day in tears, but equally, I learnt not to make mistakes, that mistakes weren’t acceptable.’
After making the transition from print to broadcast, Munchetty said that she was told to ‘toughen up.’
‘You do take criticism quite hard and you dwell on things. You need to toughen up. And I did,’ she added to Radio Times.
The former Strictly Come Dancing star has been part of the BBC Breakfast family since 2014, and has interviewed high-profile politicians including Tony Blair and Hilary Clinton.
In 2019, Munchetty was at the centre of controversy after weighing in on former US President Donald Trump’s tweet that female minority Democratic rivals should ‘go back to where they came from’.
At the time, she stated: ‘Every time I have been told, as a woman of colour, to go back to where I came from, that was embedded in racism.
The star continued: ‘Now, I’m not accusing anyone of anything here, but you know what certain phrases mean.’
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Following an investigation, she was found to be in breach of BBC guidelines, however, this ruling was soon overturned by BBC director-general Tony Hall after a public outcry.
Several presenters including Piers Morgan, BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show’s Greg James and Channel 4 News anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy voiced their support for Munchetty at the time.
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BBC Breakfast airs weekdays at 6am on BBC One.
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