Naga Munchetty has revealed that she once punched a teenage boy who sexually assaulted her on a train.
The BBC Breakfast star was bothered by the ’15- or 16′-year-old boys as she travelled on the train who stood ‘near’ to the door as she went to step off the carriage.
Naga – who was a ‘few years older’ than the youngsters – felt her bottom being pinched as she went to get off so she turned and in a moment of shock she punched one of the teenagers.
Speaking to the Daily Mail’s Eden Confidential, Naga, 50, said: ‘Two young boys were there. They were probably about 15 or 16, and they were near the door as I went to get off.
‘And they grabbed my bottom, pinched it, and I turned around and punched one of those boys and swore at them.’
The presenter said her ‘instant reaction’ may not have been ‘right’, and that she feared what would have happened if she stayed on the train.
Naga Munchetty has revealed that she once punched a teenage boy who sexually assaulted her on a train
Naga, who is now 50, added: ‘I’m not saying that was right, but it was an instant reaction’
‘And then, straight away after, was the fear that I was a woman on my own only a few years older than them and what would happen next.
‘I was fortunate enough that it shocked them and I was getting off the train and I was comforted by that.’
‘If I had been staying on the train I don’t know – I don’t think I would have wanted to be confronted by them.’
Her comments come after the presenter was placed ‘under review’, having been accused of bullying a junior colleague.
Naga was spoken to by executives after a junior staffer accused the journalist of bullying them, it was reported. She has not commented on the allegation.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘While we do not comment on individual cases, we take all complaints about conduct at work extremely seriously and will not tolerate behaviour that is not in line with our values.
We have robust processes in place and would encourage any staff with concerns to raise them directly with us so they can be addressed.’
The BBC Breakfast star was bothered by the ’15- or 16′-year-old boys as she travelled on the train who stood ‘near’ to the door as she went to step off the carriage
Naga was also reportedly hauled into a meeting after she made a sex jibe during an ad break on her radio show.
She is believed to have used a slang term for a sex act and reportedly asked a colleague if they had ever done it.
It was also reported that Munchetty was planning on quitting BBC Breakfast after she was accused of bullying.
Figures released by the BBC earlier this year revealed the presenter was awarded a £10,000 increase in her annual salary.
Her pay packet rose to an eye-watering £355,000 – almost double that of her co-host Charlie Stayt.
Charlie, 63, has remained in the £190,000 bracket as tensions between the pair are said to be ‘rife’.
Naga hosts BBC Breakfast on Thursdays to Saturdays with Charlie, while Jon Kay and Sally Nugent anchor the programme from the start of the week.
The BBC has been contacted for further comment.
Naga recently said she struggled to open up about her chronic health condition at the BBC over fears of being seen as ‘weak’.
The presenter lived with painful heavy bleeding, vomiting, fainting and severe aching every two and a half weeks for 32 years before a private doctor finally diagnosed her with Adenomyosis in 2022.
Adenomyosis is a condition where the lining of the womb starts growing into the muscle in the wall of the womb. It can affect one in 10 women, according to the NHS.
Speaking at a Women’s Health event at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, Naga revealed that she turned down a hysterectomy, the only available cure, because she could not afford to take six weeks off work.
She feared that she would not be ‘up to scratch’ after a lengthy period off the air.
Her comments come after the presenter was placed ‘under review’, having been accused of bullying a junior colleague
Naga said the culture of competitiveness at the BBC had made it difficult for her to open up about her health.
She said: ‘Legally, if you present with a health crisis or health condition, you have to be supported, but the fact is I’m a journalist in a highly competitive environment, and I’ve alluded to this, that being seen to be weak is a concern.’
Before she was diagnosed, Munchetty opted in 2019 to get sterilised in an attempt to stop her symptoms after her decision to get the contraceptive coil fitted in 2017 left her screaming in agony.
Female sterilisation is a permanent type of contraception, which requires keyhole surgery, where the fallopian tubes are blocked or cut to stop sperm meeting an egg.
She previously said the procedure wasn’t a tough decision as she and her husband James Haggar, 52, were certain they didn’t want children.
Munchetty told the crowd at the festival that having a chronic health condition in a competitive industry was ‘not easy’.
In her speech, heard by The Telegraph, she added: ‘I don’t know the answer in terms of how employers should be better because I just don’t think they get it.’
‘I was told it will get better when you have a baby. Like having a baby is a solution to anything. That’s more trauma than anything. And I didn’t want to.’
