Fearne Cotton opens up on experiencing ‘first panic attack in months’ during lockdown

Fearne Cotton has opened up about suffering a panic attack while in lockdown, stating that she has spoken out about her experience for others who are in similar situations.

On Wednesday 8 April, the television and radio presenter shared a selfie on Instagram, in which she is leaning against a sink in her bathroom.

In the post’s caption, Cotton wrote that she doesn’t often feel “comfortable posting stuff like this” on the social media platform “as these moments are best told in carefully written books or spoken aloud in context”.

“But hey, we’re in weird times so all rules are out of the window,” she added.

The 38-year-old explained that on Tuesday night, she experienced her “first panic attack in months”.

“It had been so long I had almost forgotten they can sneak up out of the blue, or pink, considering last night’s moon,” she said, in reference to last night’s pink supermoon.

“Shortly after I got into bed my heart started racing and I lay there in a heightened state for three hours before drifting off at some point, only to then be woken by [seven-year-old son] Rex who is currently scared of aliens landing.”

Cotton said that today she feels “bruised and fuzzy” in the aftermath of the panic attack.

“This is not a sob story for sympathy as I’m WELL aware that there are much bigger, more serious problems and forms of suffering afoot at the moment,” she stated.

“I’m putting it out there for those who experience the same yet feel alone.”

The former Radio 1 presenter stated that she frequently feels as though she is “the only one who can’t do normal stuff like sleep well or stay calm in chaos”.

“So for all those in the same boat... we stand together,” she wrote.

Cotton ended her caption with a message of hope, saying: “It’ll pass, calm will resurface, it’s just a road bump today, so for now we can feel tired and know that’s OK.

“Big love to you all whatever you’re going through today. Love and peace.”

A panic attack, mental health charity Mind outlines, is an “exaggeration of your body’s normal response to danger, stress or excitement”.

The organisation explains that physical symptoms of a panic attack can occur very quickly.

These symptoms may include experiencing a racing heartbeat, feeling light-hearted, struggling to breathe and feeling pain in your chest or abdomen.

For more information on panic attacks, visit Mind’s website here.

Read more

How to feel less anxious about the coronavirus

How to manage your mental health if you have to self-isolate