Fearne Cotton has revealed the story of how she was unceremoniously fired from at least two TV shows (Picture: WireImage)
TV and radio presenter Fearne Cotton has revealed how she discovered that she’d been sacked from several TV shows she was hosting.
The star, 42, rose to fame as a teenager, hosting GMTV children’s TV show The Disney Club and its replacement, Diggit.
As an adult, she went on to host Top of the Pops before later helming Love Island in 2006 and X Factor spin-off The Xtra Factor in 2007.
Fearne’s wide and varied career in broadcasting has seen her hosting shows on BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2, and as team leader opposite Holly Willoughby on the raunchy ITV panel show Celebrity Juice.
However, her journey has not been without its pitfalls. In a recent interview, Fearne – whose early rise to fame left her battling bulimia and poor mental health – has revealed the darker side of the industry – and one which left her unsure of where her next job is coming from.
Even worse, she revealed how she had been brutally sacked in the past – finding out only by seeing another person in her place.
Fearne rose to fame as a TV and radio personality in the early 2000s (Picture: 2005 Comic Relief)
‘I’ve been sacked a million times,’ Fearne told The Sunday Times.
‘I’ve been sacked and not told I’ve been sacked. You just turn the telly on and someone else is doing your job,’ she continued.
‘It’s all a big game. You’ve got the Monopoly board out and you’re moving around [trying to] dodge the danger,’ she added.
Fame hasn’t always been kind to Fearne (Picture: WireImage)
Elsewhere in the interview, Fearne revealed the toll that fame had taken on her mental health over the years.
‘If you want to get a whole host of mental health problems, get in the public eye really young because you get them all,’ she said.
‘There’s no way you can get through it in one piece … All my mental health lows are because of my job. Nothing else. It is not conducive to a balanced mind.’
Fearne has written a number of books, including her debut novel (Picture: Dave Benett)
The stress only intensified when she took over from Jo Whiley on Radio 1, where a live stream of abuse left her anxious and depressed.
‘You had a big screen with all the text messages coming in. It’s ghastly speaking live with people going “You’re a k**b!” I took over from Jo Whiley — the queen of radio — so imagine the abuse,’ she said.
‘I can do live radio with my eyes closed, but I could not sleep the night before,” she recalls. “I’d get a week down the line and go, ‘I feel ill — I can’t do this.’” The anxiety escalated into panic attacks. “I got to the point where I just thought, ‘Why am I doing this to myself? Am I that desperate to be seen or heard?’ she added.
Fearne has two children with husband Jesse Wood (Picture: WireImage)
Having dialled back her live work (‘I’ve learnt that I couldn’t do live radio or TV today for any money in the world!’) Fearne began hosting her own podcast in 2018, titled Happy Place.
In 2014, Fearne married her husband, Jesse Wood – the son of Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood.
The pair share two children together; Rex Wayne Wood, born in 2013, and Honey Krissy Wood, born in 2015.
Noted celebrity author Fearne has recently written her first debut novel, called Scripted, which follows a young woman who discovers a series of scripts outside her flat – each predicting what will happen in her life.
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