S6 EP4: Malala Yousafzai discusses misrepresentations of Islam, the Taliban's ‘gender apartheid’, and her views on marriage

The Louis Theroux Podcast

Spotify Studios

Comedy, Arts, Society & Culture

4.1 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, Louis speaks with Nobel laureate and education activist Malala Yousafzai. Joining Louis at Spotify HQ, the pair discuss misrepresentations of Islam, the Taliban’s 'gender apartheid', and her views on the institution of marriage. Plus, Malala shares a traumatic drug experience at university that changed her outlook on life. Warnings: adult themes and some discussion points which could be upsetting. If you’ve been affected by the topics discussed in this episode, Spotify have a website for information and resources. Visit spotify.com/resources Links/Attachments: Book: Finding My Way, Malala Yousafzai (2025) https://www.waterstones.com/book/finding-my-way/malala-yousafzai/9781399637770 Book: I Am Malala, Malala Yousafzai (2013) https://www.waterstones.com/book/i-am-malala/malala-yousafzai/christina-lamb/9781399608992 Class Dismissed (2009) - New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/asia/100000001835296/class-dismissed-malala-yousafzais-story.html Article: Malala’s shooting https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pakistani-teen-girls-activist-malala-yousufzai-shot-on-school-bus-by-taliban-gunman/ Article: Charlie Kirk killed https://news.sky.com/story/what-we-know-about-how-charlie-kirk-was-killed-13428871 Article: Afghanistan's restrictions on women https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/08/1165622 Article: Southport riots https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c99v90813j5o Article: Pakistan child marriage laws https://www.walkfree.org/news/2025/pakistan-takes-step-to-end-child-marriage-as-calls-grow-for-national-reform/ Malala Fund: https://malala.org/ Mukhtar Mai profile: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13163169 Survey of worst countries for women: https://www.amnestyusa.org/blog/the-worlds-worst-places-to-be-a-woman/ Credits: Producer: Millie Chu  Assistant Producer: Maan al-Yasiri Production Manager: Francesca Bassett  Music: Miguel D’Oliveira  Audio Mixer: Tom Guest Video Mixer: Scott Edwards Shownotes compiled by Elly Young Executive Producer: Arron Fellows     A Mindhouse Production for Spotify  www.mindhouse.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	One two, one, two, hello there. Are you there?
0:03.0	Is this thing on? Can you hear me?
0:10.0	Hello there. Welcome back to the Louis Theru podcast.
0:27.6	Today's guest is Nobel Laureate. That's our first Nobel on the pod. And activist Malala Yusufzai. Malala is an advocate for the education of women and children worldwide,
0:34.6	an author, speaker and teacher. I'm sure you've heard of Malala.
0:39.2	She's also the founder of the Malala Fund, which has helped build schools and provide education
0:43.2	across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Malala has been campaigning for access to education since she was
0:47.9	11 years old, growing up in the northern area of Pakistan. Four years later, when she was 15,
0:53.4	Malala and two of her friends were shot
0:54.9	and injured by Taliban gunmen in an assassination attempt, authorized by Mullah Fazlula. We talked more
1:03.5	about him in the chat. She was flown to Birmingham for surgery, where she then settled with her
1:07.3	family, making a life in the UK. We recorded this conversation in September
1:10.9	this year. She dropped by Spotify HQ in the middle of a busy press tour to promote her new book
1:16.7	Finding My Way, which came out last week. It's the follow-up to her 2013 international bestseller,
1:22.9	I Am Malala. And in fact, we talk about both books. The new one, talking about history, that's her dealing with being Oxford and the challenges
1:30.6	of trying to be an international advocate for education, but also be a normal teenage girl,
1:38.8	student, someone making their way, trying to do well in their studies.
1:42.6	But also we talk about the old one,
1:44.2	I Amalala, which is more historical, more about the sociology, the life and history of Pakistan,
1:52.7	the Taliban, how they came up, all of which I found very interesting. As you can imagine,
1:57.6	this conversation contains adult themes and some discussion points which could be upsetting.
2:02.3	All that and much else besides is coming up.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Spotify Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Spotify Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.