Anita Rani, 46, has defended her bombshell appearance on the Baftas red carpet in a glitzy ‘naked’ dress after it sparked criticism from a fellow Woman’s Hour presenter.
The BBC Countryfile star said there was something about ‘an Asian woman wearing a revealing dress that has blown people’s minds’.
Rani donned the see-through gown embellished with pearls and a nude bodysuit at the Baftas ceremony in London last month as a way to ’embody confidence’.
JENI CRITICIZED HER APPEARANCE
Her look, however, sparked criticism from the former doyenne of Women’s Hour, Dame Jeni Murray, who said she was ‘horrified’ Rani was wearing ‘not much more than her underwear’.
Dame Jeni said: ‘Women who have achieved the standing Anita now rightly enjoys should forget about dressing like porn stars or wearing risque outfits to attract the attention of men. It isn’t attractive.’
THEN SHE HIT BACK
But speaking to the Telegraph, Rani hit back. She said: ‘I think: is it something about the fact that it’s my body in that dress?
‘That it’s an Indian woman who has done something totally unexpected?
‘I’ve done something which is perfectly normal for a woman to do, but there’s something about an Asian woman doing it that has slightly blown people’s minds? I don’t know.’
The radio host also said she believes the world has moved on and that women can have ‘both a brain and wear sexy clothes’.
WHAT INSPIRED HER STYLE
She previously explained that she adopted the stylish gown both as a way of showing that women of any age or size can ’embody confidence’.
She also said it was a way to honour her late Aunt who passed away during lockdown.
Rani said: ‘I’ve had a hard few years, my life has changed. I lost an auntie, during lockdown and I’ve not spoken about that. It was really hard, we were very close and she wasn’t even 60.
