London - Most wives would be mortified by the idea of their husband spending a night with another woman.
But it seems Loose Women panellist Saira Khan is not so sure.
She admits that her sex drive has become so low she has suggested her husband Steven Hyde “go with someone else”.
The former Apprentice runner-up and mother of two, who has been married to the 51-year-old for 11 years, said on the television show: “I’m 46, I have a busy life and two kids. I am so lucky. We used to have a fantastic sex life. I still love my husband, we cuddle and it’s lovely. But I’m not interested [in sex]. I don’t want to. I’ve lost the desire and I find myself making excuses from around 6pm.”
She said she had employed numerous tactics to avoid his advances before eventually suggesting – perhaps in the heat of the moment – that he find satisfaction elsewhere.
She told fellow panellists on the ITV chat show: “The other day, I was dressed up to go out and he told me I looked nice. I was like, ‘Thanks!’, and ran out the door. As soon as he comes home, I panic and start saying, ‘I’m so tired!’ I’m embarrassed to say this – but I told him you can go with someone else if you want. I want to make him happy. He’ll kill me for saying this... Am I the only one?”
Hyde denied he has any such arrangement with his wife. However he declined to comment when asked why she would make the claims on national television if they were not true.
Khan’s comments are a marked change from three years ago when, in an interview about the impact of a new fitness regime, she said: “My sex life has gone from being near-dormant to absolutely fantastic. Having my husband tell me I look great is the best feeling”.
And Hyde has always been clear about how attractive he finds his wife. After her appearance on The Apprentice in 2005, he said: “As soon as I met Saira, I was attracted to her. She had the highest energy levels of anyone I know, which I thought was amazing. I was bowled over straight away.
“Saira has a great body and turns a lot of blokes’ heads whenever she works out. She likes showing off with sexy, stylish clothes too.”
Khan – who has a daughter, Amara, five, and son Zac, seven – received some criticism on Twitter for her admission, with viewers suggesting such talk should be kept private within her marriage.
She responded that she is open about her life so it can “help others”.
“I like to share so it can make people feel better that they are not the only ones,” she said.
However there were suggestions that her lack of sex drive was a symptom of deeper problems in the relationship.
Harry Benson, from the Marriage Foundation, said: “I feel sorry for them in the choice that they’ve made. Sex is usually a pretty good barometer of a relationship. While husbands and wives will often have different sex drives, if one person has lost it completely, the chances are there is a wider problem in the marriage.”
He added that working to rebuild their “friendship” may help. “I’m guessing their problem is not sex, it is basic friendship,” he said. ‘If they re-establish that, she might find her sex drive reappears.’
Khan found sympathy among her fellow Loose Women. Instead of being shocked, Coleen Nolan agreed that she has a much lower sex drive as she gets older.
Nolan, 51, who has been married to husband Ray Fensome for almost a decade, explained: “You don’t always fancy it and then it takes 20 seconds to get in the mood and sometimes another 20 to do it.”
Khan’s confession came as they discussed a recent news story about a husband who divorced his wife because she was too busy sending text messages to consummate their marriage.
It also led to a conversation about how important it is for a couple to have sex on their wedding night.
Nolan joked: “I did it three times. I remember it well as it’s the last time we did it”.
While Ruth Langsford, who married long term partner Eamonn Holmes in 2010, said: “I thought, I really ought to, it’s my wedding night. It wasn’t our finest.”
Daily Mail