Fearne Cotton: British TV and radio presenter who started on Disney/ITV at 15 and spent years at BBC Radio 1; now an author and founder of the Happy Place podcast, festival and publishing brand.
What this episode covers
Fearne Cotton tells Stephen Bartlett how entering the public eye at 15 led to years of imposter syndrome and performing a one-dimensional, inauthentic version of herself. She describes the depression, panic attacks and burnout that pushed her to leave Radio 1 and forge a new, less mainstream path through writing and podcasting. Much of the conversation centers on self-compassion, separating yourself from your thoughts, non-religious prayer and finding meaning through connection with nature and others. She also discusses the double standard women face around ambition and motherhood, and what her new book Bigger Than Us is about.
Recommended on this episode
The Artist's Way
Julia Cameron
“i've just re-read the artist's way you do your pages every morning you just write what comes to mind you're getting to know yourself”— Fearne Cotton
The guest's own work
Bigger Than Us
Fearne Cotton
“which brings us i think nicely onto your brand new book bigger than us um which is about the power of finding meaning in a messy world”— Fearne Cotton
Happy
Fearne Cotton
“when i was writing my first book happy i said to my mum would you write a piece for it about depression”— Fearne Cotton
Calm
Fearne Cotton
“so very very slowly this sort of snowball effect well i wrote two other books calm and quiet”— Fearne Cotton
Quiet
Fearne Cotton
“so very very slowly this sort of snowball effect well i wrote two other books calm and quiet”— Fearne Cotton
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Lost Connections
Johann Hari
“started speaking to a lot of psychologists and people like johan hari who wrote lost the book lost connections”— Stephen Bartlett
Big reveals from this episode
- Fearne reveals she went through a long period of depression, went on medication and didn't want to leave the house.
- She admits leaving TV partly coincided with not being offered shows and being effectively sacked, not purely her own choice.
- When she decided to leave Radio 1, not a single person around her told her it was a good idea.
- Her first panic attack happened on a motorway with her friend Claire; she thought something was wrong with her heart.
- All of her panic attacks are tied to work, which is why she avoids live TV and triggering jobs.
- She kept a diary nightly since around age 12 but burned all the books during her deepest depression in a ritual at her dad's work incinerator.
- She says she let her social life completely slide to do work and motherhood well.
Worth remembering
- Fearne got her first TV break at 15 on a Disney club show on ITV when only four or five UK channels existed.
- She auditioned with her nan Sylvia because her mum was at work, feeling out of place among big stage-school kids.
- Her mother dealt with depression and her nan Sylvia had nervous breakdowns, suggesting a family history.
- After leaving radio she still did Celebrity Juice while figuring out a new direction.
- Dawn French was one of her first podcast guests; Fearne emailed her and went to her house in Cornwall to record.
- Fearne practices walking meditation rather than seated, a concept used by Buddhist monks though she is not religious.
- Her management team is headed globally by a woman named Mary, with colleagues Holly and Sarah.
- Fearne says her aspirational future self is an eccentric 80-year-old with crazy jewelry and wild gray hair.