Saira Khan's husband has said it is "nonsense" that the couple have an open relationship, following comments she made on live TV earlier in the week.

The former Apprentice contestant told ITV's Loose Women on Wednesday that she was so tired she had lost her libido, despite still being in love with her husband of 11 years, Steven Hyde.

The couple appeared on the talk show to clarify her comments after a mixed response from viewers to her revelation that she told him: "If you really want to, go with somebody else."

Khan initially spoke to the panel before Hyde appeared alone for a few minutes, saying: "To be honest I was pretty devastated for her really, to think that she would even think, that she needed to say something like that to me, because it's something that I would never contemplate doing and never think about doing.

"The idea for me, of what people talk about as an open relationship is, well, it's just not for me, it's nonsense. So I felt really troubled, I felt heartbroken that she had got to such a point really, such a low point that she felt the need to say something like that."

Asked by Andrea McLean if he thought it was a generous offer or made him wonder if his wife really knew him, he replied: "Little bit of both.

"All the things we had been through, I think like many marriages, you start off and everyone has troubles and difficulties, so we'd both started businesses the year after we got married, we went through infertility, we adopted.

"Of course it was challenging for me as a white bloke from London marrying a Muslim girl, that in itself was a challenge right from the beginning. So we have been through a lot.

"I would have hoped that she'd have actually thought, 'Well, you know what, we are in this situation at the moment and that Steve will be patient, Steve will come round to it.' I don't think that she needed to say that (he could sleep with other women)."

After Khan rejoined the panel in tears, he said: "I think we've got a really good marriage and a great family.

"We've got a really strong relationship. I adore her, she's fantastic, she's my best friend, there's nothing happening to our relationship at all."

Khan told the panel - of McLean, Nadia Sawalha, Sherrie Hewson and Kaye Adams - that she had not planned on making the revelation and it had been "quite frightening" and "shocking" at first to see her marriage in the headlines.

But she admitted her relief: "I have felt so much lighter in myself, I feel like a heavy burden has been lifted."

She said she had received thousands of supportive emails from as far afield as America and Germany after Wednesday's episode - plus a less happy phone call from her mother in Kashmir telling her not to talk about sex on TV.

After the show she tweeted a message to her husband, writing: "Thank you @StevenPush for being my rock, I love you and so do all the girls and boys @loosewomen - You are an amazing person."

She also thanked viewers on social media with a tweet saying: "Thank you everyone watching @loosewomen today your support has been sooo overwhelming and humbling - thank you."