Fearne Cotton: THIS Is How To Build Confidence & Set Yourself Free | E116

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.

• Fearne reveals she went through a long period of depression, went on medication and didn't want to leave the house.
  00:22:14
• She admits leaving TV partly coincided with not being offered shows and being effectively sacked, not purely her own choice.
  00:23:48
• When she decided to leave Radio 1, not a single person around her told her it was a good idea.
  00:26:23
• Her first panic attack happened on a motorway with her friend Claire; she thought something was wrong with her heart.
  00:32:36
• All of her panic attacks are tied to work, which is why she avoids live TV and triggering jobs.
  00:34:40
• 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.
  01:05:47
• She says she let her social life completely slide to do work and motherhood well.
  01:08:21

• Fearne got her first TV break at 15 on a Disney club show on ITV when only four or five UK channels existed.
  00:09:46
• She auditioned with her nan Sylvia because her mum was at work, feeling out of place among big stage-school kids.
  00:10:16
• Her mother dealt with depression and her nan Sylvia had nervous breakdowns, suggesting a family history.
  00:30:32
• After leaving radio she still did Celebrity Juice while figuring out a new direction.
  00:37:44
• Dawn French was one of her first podcast guests; Fearne emailed her and went to her house in Cornwall to record.
  00:39:17
• Fearne practices walking meditation rather than seated, a concept used by Buddhist monks though she is not religious.
  00:56:29
• Her management team is headed globally by a woman named Mary, with colleagues Holly and Sarah.
  01:13:33
• Fearne says her aspirational future self is an eccentric 80-year-old with crazy jewelry and wild gray hair.
  01:29:43

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