Fearne Cotton admits she’s struggling to recover from ‘four seconds of sleep’

Fearne Cotton has detailed her challenges with maintaining a healthy work-life balance in a candid post amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The broadcaster, 39, who shares Rex, seven, and Honey, five, with husband Jesse Wood, took to Instagram on Wednesday morning to admit she’s struggling to write emails and look after her children following just ‘four seconds of sleep’.

Alongside images of herself looking tired, the presenter wrote: ‘My eyes feel like small Bunsen burners and my brain is a tumble dryer of nonsense’.

The media personality insisted that while she’s finding it hard to adjust to working from home, she is determined to fight through her difficulties.

Former Top of the Pops host Fearne explained: ‘Four seconds sleep and now attempting to do emails whilst the kids are doing home school. But it’s all good. We’ve got this. We can do this. Positive vibes only.’

The TV and radio star went on to pay tribute to her industry friend Gary Barlow in celebration of his 50th birthday.

The ex-Celebrity Juice panellist added: ‘Also onto happier things. Happy 50 th to my mate Captain Barlow. A small montage if you will. A bloody wonderful bloke who is overflowing with talent, calm and good vibes.   

‘Have a good day Captain @officialgarybarlow, ps I will always consult photo number three when I’m tempted to cut a fringe and remember IT DOES NOT suit me.’ (sic)

Earlier this month, Fearne spoke about her depression in an honest interview with Angela Scanlon’s podcast, Thanks A Million.

The mother-of-two, who is also a stepmum to Jesse’s older kids Arthur, 19, and Lola, 15, from his marriage to ex-wife Tilly, admitted the mood disorder is part of her everyday life, and even caused her to leave some of her jobs in the past.

She shared: ‘[Depression] is a chapter that I often in my work talk around, but not really about it because there’s so much of it that I’m still processing and still have a bit of a hangover with. 

‘A lot of my work has come from that area of my life where I fell into a pretty big hole of depression and not much around me seemed to make sense.

‘I felt very isolated and very alone in my experience. It was long before I even dared use the word depression.

‘Now, it’s an everyday part of my life, whether it’s friends who know that I’ll open up about it or mostly in my work. Before this point, I would never have dared talk about my mental health. I don’t think I even knew what that was.

‘Obviously, by default, I felt very alone in that due to the fact that I hadn’t had those conversations. There are a few things I’m still working on from that time. One of them is confidence, because I totally lost it when I didn’t have any at all, which has really hindered me in my work life and somewhat in my personal life…

‘My working life, I really lost confidence… I literally couldn’t put myself out there in the way that I used to.’

The podcaster hosted a mid-morning show on BBC Radio 1 from 2009 until 2015, after which she sat in for Zoe Ball on Radio 2, before quitting. Fearne was also a team captain on Celebrity Juice from 2008 until 2018.