I had panic attack while I was TV3 show judge, says Denise
IRELAND’S Got Talent judge Denise Van Outen suffered from a ‘paralysing’ panic attack while filming the entertainment show.
The British presenter and actress, 44, said she was sitting in her car ready for a charity golf match earlier this year when ‘everything came crashing down’.
A combination of moving home with her city trader boyfriend Eddie Boxshall and eight-yearold daughter Betsy, filming Loose Women and working on Ireland’s Got Talent for TV3, now Virgin Media One, left Denise feeling overwhelmed.
Her daughter was also going through a hard time at school and Denise started to feel like ‘it was all too much’.
She was on her way to play a charity golf match organised by former rugby player Mike Tindall when she began feeling anxious.
She became panicky, short of breath and paralysed.
Denise said: ‘As warning signs go, it was a big one. I have always lived my life at 100 miles per hour, taking on project after project. But earlier this year, I realised quite how overloaded I had become when I suffered a paralysing panic attack.
‘I got as far as sitting in the car, dressed in my golf gear, but I realised I did not feel well enough to make the journey from Essex to Birmingham on my own.
‘I felt like just hiding away. I wondered whether I was having a breakdown. The whole experience was weird and alien.
‘When I eventually composed myself enough to call my GP, he said he thought I had had an anxiety attack, possibly due to a hormonal imbalance,’ she said.
The glamorous presenter felt ‘embarrassed’ she had missed the tournament but said support from family and friends made everything better.
‘As soon as I started talking about it with my friends and
‘I felt like just hiding away’
family, I felt better. I have even talked about it with my daughter, Betsy, and it has helped her to have a good chat about positive mental health, too.
‘I have been single for half her life, which has not always been easy for either of us.
‘I know I am in a privileged position, but that does not make me immune from the stresses of trying to do it all.
‘This experience made me realise I had to prioritise my health. It has been very liberating saying no to things from time to time – without feeling guilty,’ she added.
emer.scully@dailymail.ie