Fearne Cotton has not driven on a motorway for two years since having panic attack at wheel

Fearne Cotton poses for photographers upon arrival at the Brit Awards 2015 at the 02 Arena in London, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)
Fearne Cotton suffered a painc attack while driving and had to call the AA to take her home (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

Fearne Cotton has confessed she hasn’t driven on a motorway for two years since experiencing a panic attack at the wheel.

The Celebrity Juice star has revealed she was forced to pull over and call the AA to take her home when she found herself struggling to breathe while driving in 2017.

Cotton, 37, told Closer magazine: “I haven’t driven on a motorway since. I will go back, but I’m not ready yet.”

The TV presenter and mother-of-two revealed the attack happened while she was talking to a friend in the passenger seat. She was just 30 minutes away from home but was unable to keep going.

Read more: Will Emily Atack toreplace Fearne Cotton on Celebrity Juice?

Cotton - who has written several books about wellbeing and presents a podcast called Happy Place - described her panic attacks as “spinny”.

She said: “It’s like I’m going to black out, or faint, or get a tingly face. Everything is quite spinny. I can’t really put it down to any particular thing, and I’m just sort of coping with it.”

The former children’s presenter has been working on TV since she was 15, but still worries about suffering an attack live on air.

She said: “I could be interviewing someone live on TV, and my head goes, ‘Oh this could be about time to faint’. I’ll think, ‘No, don’t do that’ and I’m like, ‘It’s coming’. It’s not great.”

Cotton, who has previously spoken about battling depression, added: “I also lie awake at night worrying about live radio the next morning. And my phone is always on silent because I think if it rings, something awful must have happened.”

The Radio 2 DJ is married to Jesse Wood, 42, son of Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones and they have two children, Rex, six, and three-year-old Honey.

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