Fact-check: Claim about Momina Iqbal's gender identity and family is false

A video clip featuring Pakistani television actress Momina Iqbal, which has garnered over 13 million views, is circulating with the claim that Iqbal recently revealed in an interview that she was disowned by her family after they learned she was a transgender person.

The claim is false. Momina Iqbal has not made any such statement regarding her gender identity or her family disowning her.

Claim

A user on X (formerly Twitter) posted: “Momina Iqbal is a great actress and has played some good roles. But today I found out that she is a transgender, and my respect for her has grown.”

The video, which accompanies this post, is a one-minute clip from an interview where the user claims Iqbal said: “I am a trans person. When my mother found out, I was thrown out of the house – Momina Iqbal cried.”

The identical claim was shared on Facebook and TikTok.

Fact

Momina Iqbal has made no such statement about her gender or her family in the interview being circulated.

The video clips shared online are edited from an interview Iqbal gave to Karachi-based online magazine Fuchsia Magazine on August 29, 2022. Geo Fact Check reviewed the entire interview, which is available on the magazine’s YouTube channel.

At no point in the hour-long interview does Iqbal discuss her gender identity or claim that her family disowned her.

The segment being shared online is from a discussion where the interviewer asked Iqbal about her religious beliefs. In her response, Iqbal expressed her gratitude to God and spoke about her and her family’s faith.

Her exact words can be heard at timestamp 49:30 in the interview.

Verdict: The claim is false. Nowhere in the interview does Momina Iqbal talk about trans people or state that her mother kicked her out of the house.

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