BBC journalist Martin Bashir is currently battling complications from coronavirus.
“We are sorry to say that Martin is seriously unwell with COVID-19 related complications,” a BBC spokeswoman said in a statement Wednesday. “We’d ask that his privacy, and that of his family, is respected at this time.”
Over the course of his journalism career, Bashir has won both awards as well as criticism for his work.
In 1995, he became prominently known for interviewing Princess Diana on the BBC’s Panorama program after her marriage to Prince Charles ended.
Related Story: CeCe Winans Addresses Scandal Over Her Role in Trump Ad Downplaying COVID-19
Bashir gained notoriety in the U.S. in 2003, after interviewing pop star Michael Jackson for the ITV documentary, Living with Michael Jackson. Bashir spent eight months documenting the singer’s life at Neverland Ranch in California.
When the documentary aired, Jackson complained to the Independent Television Commission and the Broadcasting Standards Commission that he had been “unfairly treated,” and that the documentary was a “gross distortion” of his life, according to Jackson’s legal team.
Besides his work for the BBC, Bashir has also been an anchor for ABC’s Nightline, a correspondent for NBC’s Dateline and a host on MSNBC. He left MSNBC in 2013, after apologizing for calling former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin a “world-class idiot.”
Bashir is currently the religion editor for BBC News.
