Fearne Cotton reveals sad reason she left Radio 2 role with incredibly honest admission

Much-loved presenter Fearne Cotton has lifted the lid on the heartbreaking reason she felt forced to step down from her temporary BBC Radio 2 Breakfast role back in 2019.

Speaking candidly to celebrity gal pal Davina McCall, the mother-of-two opened up about a health battle she'd kept hidden which previously left her 'on her knees'.

It often feels as though national treasure Fearne Cotton has been around for donkey's years - and in some ways, she has.

After all, the radio star's big break came all the way back in the 1990s when she landed children's television presenting roles on CITV, GMTV and CBBC.

In the years that followed, Cotton, now 43, went on to become a household name, having hosted the likes of The Xtra Factor, Top of the Pops, the OG Love Island, and appeared as a team captain, alongside Holly Willoughby, on Celebrity Juice.

During this time, she also made major moves in the realm of radio, fronting a Friday morning BBC Radio 1 slot with Reggie Yates before taking over the station's weekly Chart Show.

When it was announced back in 2019, therefore, that Cotton would be standing in for Zoe Ball on BBC Radio 2's fan-favourite Breakfast Show for several weeks during the annual holidays, her fans were delighted.

Following only a handful of appearances, however, Cotton shocked listeners by suddenly quitting the gig.

Since then, her fans have wondered what prompted the decision, with the presenter only ever having alluded to personal matters during conversations with press.

That was until this week when Cotton finally disclosed what exactly had pushed her into making the career-changing decision, opening up on a mental health battle she was enduring at the time.

Speaking as a guest on McCall's Begin Again podcast this week, she recalled her departure from the Radio 2 airwaves, claiming anxiety had left her 'on her knees'.

"If I was covering for Zoe Ball, knowing I had that I definitely wouldn’t sleep," she admitted. "I’d be up catastrophising all night.

"I know how that show works, I love doing it when I'm there but the level of catastrophising would give me these levels of adrenaline rushes and then I would just be awake all night."

She continued: "It got to the point where two weeks in I was on my knees. I had to tell the head of Radio 2 I couldn’t do it anymore.

"And it was horrible saying that - I wanted to do the job, but I couldn't do it, and I still couldn't do it now."

This isn't the first time that Cotton - who also fronts her own popular wellbeing podcast Happy Place - has claimed her crippling anxiety has left her feeling unable to work.

In June this year, she vowed she'd 'never return' to live TV after claiming that her panic attacks had become regular occurrences.

"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 asked on her own pod.

"I’ve learnt that I couldn’t do live radio or TV today for any money in the world.

"The thought of going on to someone else’s platform [with] that level of risk and judgment, and that element of the unknown?

"My nervous system can’t take it — it’s absolutely shot. Putting myself in that is like putting me in a pit of lions."

Despite having stepped down from Radio 2 Breakfast and avoiding television appearances, Cotton still hosts the station's hit Sounds of the 90s programme in Saturday evenings.