Presenter Fearne Cotton has spoken candidly about a period of her life marked by "crippling anxiety" that left her afraid of work and unable to perform daily activities, describing her existence as living like a "hermit." The 44-year-old's reflections come after a challenging time that included surgery to remove two benign tumors from her jaw in December 2024, followed by the announcement of her separation from husband Jesse Wood after a decade of marriage.
In a recent interview, Cotton detailed the intensity of her mental health struggles. "I built up a snowball of anxiety that could be triggered by just stumbling over a word in a conversation," she told The Sun. "It was just nuts, I was crippled with anxiety, I had panic attacks constantly."
The anxiety had a significant impact on her professional and personal life, rendering her unable to drive or take on much of her previous television work. "I just felt debilitated," Cotton stated.
However, nearly two years after this turbulent period, Cotton reports feeling happier than she has at any point in her life. She credits a therapist with helping her identify that her struggles also involved suppressed anger.
The personal changes for Cotton have also included reverting to her maiden name. Following her separation from Jesse Wood, the son of Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, Cotton has changed her professional name from 'Mrs Fearne Wood' back to 'Ms Fearne Cotton'. This decision coincides with Wood's new girlfriend, Gemma Gregory, announcing her pregnancy.
Cotton and Wood share two children, Rex, 12, and Honey, 9. Representatives for Cotton have declined to comment on the finalization of her divorce from Wood.
In June, Cotton shared on Instagram that she was navigating "certain stressful things" as she aimed to "grow and learn" from them. She recounted a positive encounter with a stranger who wrote her and her daughter a poem, a moment that reminded her of the goodness in people. While she did not explicitly state the nature of her stress, the timing aligns with Wood and Gregory preparing to welcome their fifth child together and settling into a new home.
