BBC's Fearne Cotton has refused Strictly countless times over heartbreaking fear

Fearne would never do Strictly because she's too anxious (Image: Getty)

BBC star Fearne Cotton says she's been asked to do Strictly Come Dancing "eight million times" but has always turned it down.

The 43-year-old revealed if she did sign up she would have a panic attack on live TV and Tess Daly would have to give her mouth to mouth.

Talking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, Fearne said: "How many times have I been asked to go on Strictly? 8 million times.

"And it’s a beautiful show and I love it, but I don’t want to be in that environment, I don’t want to put myself out there.

"I could be doing all these shiny shows, and people going, I loved you on Strictly, you were amazing! But it will not make me feel happy. That I know about myself."

Fearne says if she was to go on the BBC show she'd be "really good" saying: "I used to be a dancer. I danced from like 5 to 18, I can dance. But I can’t go on live TV. I’d have a panic attack and then faint and then Tess Daly would be giving me mouth to mouth. It would be awful. I can’t do it."

Fearne Cotton revealed why she will never do Strictly (Image: Getty)

Fearne began her career in the late 1990s as a children’s television presenter before going on to present shows, including Top of the Pops, Love Island, and The Xtra Factor.
Now she's relieved her "rollercoaster" twenties are over and prefers to keep things "simple".
But she says at the height of her fame she sometimes had up to five panic attacks a day.

She continued: "There was one point where I was having panic attacks all day long, literally I would have four, five a day, but I was still putting myself in the live TV world.

"But also driving was a big one – any form of speed would make my brain go errr, so I didn’t drive on the motorway for about five years."

She went on to have Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) - a psychotherapy technique that helps people heal from traumatic and distressing experiences.

But she admits saying no to things and making the right choices is what has helped her most.

She continued: "I specifically did EMDR therapy which I found really helpful, but what’s helped my anxiety over the years generally is making these choices for me, which means not doing live TV at the moment, not saying yes to things because it might make me popular and people might like me!

"But doing things because this makes me feel really good."

Fearne was promoting her new novel Scripted at the festival. And she admits she has also taken up painting again after denying herself the hobby for so long.

She added: "I’m back painting again, and I sort of denied myself it for so long, and it makes me feel so good.

"And that is something that I’m not earning any money out of, I’m not getting any massive praise for doing it, I’m just at home peacefully painting and it is phenomenal.

"So I’m definitely making better decisions, and I’m very dedicated to my therapy, and luckily I’m able to go every week and I’m very grateful for that."