Fearne Cotton has opened up about how she suffers anxiety being on live TV and says the pressure of "saying the right thing" is "not a pressure that I can handle". The presenter revealed during an interview on BBC Breakfast on Wednesday, May 11 that she does miss “bits” of the TV industry but admitted the “pressure” was too much now.
Speaking to presenters Dan Walker and Sally Nugent, the 40-year-old TV and radio star said: “I guess as you just grow older… I started TV when I was 15, so I’ve done a long slog of it. And my perspective on life changed, my ideas changed, my set of values changed."
The former Radio 1 DJ, who was on the show to talk about her Happy Place festival, said she did not step into the BBC Breakfast studio calmly on Wednesday, May 11, adding: “Considering I did so much live TV as a kid that has sort of been annihilated and I do have quite a lot of anxiety stepping into something like this. Knowing that it’s live, people are going to judge, that cancel culture exists and that people are pointing fingers.”
She explained that she doesn't “really care” what people think about her looks or what she is wearing. “It’s more I think the pressure of: are you saying the right thing? Have you upset anyone?” she added. “That I think has just become magnified over the years and that’s not a pressure that I can handle. I know I can’t, mentally.”
In a post on Instagram after her appearance, she thanked the BBC Breakfast team for having her on the show and admitted she'd had "sleep anxiety" the night before the live interview. "Last night I had sleep anxiety so felt slightly all over the shop today," Fearne explained: "Pushing myself to go on live tv is certainly a part of my own healing. Losing confidence and fear of judgment has at times floored me but I'm in a space where I'm pushing myself out of my comfort zone.
"So grateful to have my @happyplaceofficial world and community," She added: "Where I don't have that fear of anxiety but it's also important to push the boundaries at times".
Fearne, whose presenting career first started when as a teen she won a competition to be on GMTV children’s programme The Disney Club, had her own show on BBC Radio 1 for six years and has also hosted Top Of The Pops, The Xtra Factor and the early incarnation of Love Island in the early noughties. In 2008, she joined Celebrity Juice as a team captain, but after 10 years in 2018 quit to pursue other projects.
In recent years, Fearne has founded a wellness brand, Happy Place, which includes a popular podcast and festival - and is returning this Summer after being postponed during the pandemic. She said that by creating her “own little world” she is now “excited” every day about her work rather than feeling “terrified” like she was at points during her career.
The Happy Place festival, which features workshops, yoga, arts and crafts among other activities, is returning to Chiswick in September and London in August. BBC Breakfast airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer daily from 6am.
