Anita Rani has hit again at feedback made by former Lady’s Hour stalwart Dame Jenni Murray, who criticised the Countryfile host for “carrying not far more than her underwear” to the Baftas.
The 46-year-old, who has hosted Countryfile since 2015 andWoman’s Hour since 2021, attended the TV awards in Might carrying a floor-length costume made out of clear mesh cloth with a nude-coloured bodysuit beneath, by designer Rebecca Vallance.
Responding to Rani’s outfit, Murray, who hosted the BBC Radio 4 present for 33 years till 2020, devoted a Each day Mail column to expressing how “shocked and horrified” she was to see Rani “carrying not far more than her underwear – in all probability a little bit of each – however my overriding emotion was one in all profound disappointment”.
Whereas Murray, 74, known as Rani a “reliable” presenter, she criticised the host for “leaping on the bandwagon for carrying as little as doable to indicate off”.
Murray in contrast Rani to popstar Rita Ora, who wore a costume of an identical model to the Met Gala in Might. Murray, nonetheless, claimed that “Anyplace” singer Ora “doesn’t have to fret about her popularity as a thinker”, whereas Rani “does”.
She went on to inform her successor that Lady’s Hour presenters should maintain “to the feminist precept that ladies have to be seen to be valued for his or her minds”.
Rani has now responded to that criticism, telling The Telegraph that she discovered Murray’s argument to be reductive and regarding.
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“What was her argument – that Rita Ora can get away with it as a result of nobody expects her to have a mind? I feel it’s a really reductive and fairly an odd argument,” she stated.
Rani stated the world has “moved on” from such concepts, including: “How wonderful is it you could have a mind and put on attractive garments?”
The presenter, who hosts the radio present alongside Nuala McGovern, stated she was “barely involved” that Murray would make such criticism, because the broadcaster was on the forefront of Lady’s Hour, a radio present that has lengthy championed ladies expressing themselves on their very own phrases.
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She continued: “It’s actually bizarre, as a result of I’m not the primary lady to have worn a costume, however for some cause me in that costume appeared actually fascinating.”
Rani pointed to the unfavourable backlash she obtained on social media, and requested whether or not there was one thing about an “Asian lady doing it that has barely blown individuals’s minds?” earlier than concluding: “I don’t know.”
“I ponder if individuals did even see me,” she stated. “It’s not that I’m being observed – they’re simply flippin’ seeing me for the primary time. I feel: is it one thing about the truth that it’s my physique in that costume? That it’s an Indian lady who has executed one thing completely surprising?”
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Her feedback comply with simply weeks after the presenter opened up about her expertise of divorce in her mid-40s, stating that it feels as if “she will breathe for the primary time” and eventually do what she “really desires to do”.
Writing in The Sunday Occasions earlier this month, Rani stated that changing into single in her mid-forties has allowed her to grasp that she is “answerable to nobody”.
“Changing into single in my mid-forties has made me re-evaluate all the pieces. It has made me see how a lot I’ve been conditioned to be a dutiful lady, somewhat than a free lady. Till now,” she stated.
“Now I really feel as if I’m starting to breathe for the primary time, do what I really wish to. And now hitting my mid-forties has given me a way of urgency.”
