Fearnecotton Podcasts

If you tend to doubt yourself, do you know why? Psychotherapist, best-selling author, and former NHS lead for Mental Health Owen O’Kane has spent a lifetime unpicking his own past as a gay Irish Catholic child who was bullied and surrounded by bombs and bullets in the hope of understanding where his fear and shame in adulthood came from. In this ch…

Do you have open conversations at work when you’re in pain emotionally or physically? After going through numerous rounds of IVF, as well as having a miscarriage, broadcaster, writer, and author Emma Barnett wants to re-brand pain as weakness into pain as strength, especially at work. In this chat with Fearne, she talks through the worries she had …

Broadcaster and author Sara Cox joins Fearne for a special live episode of Happy Place at The Podcast Show in Islington. A brilliant storyteller, Sara talks about the process of finding her own voice and becoming a confident raconteur both on the radio and in her personal life. In this chat, Fearne and Sara also explore friendships – how our friend…

Heartbreak is a universal feeling, but everyone copes with it differently. Presenter, actor and singer Denise Van Outen tends to throw herself into work, keeping busy with exciting professional opportunities, to distract from any pain. In this chat with Fearne, Denise talks about how she’s learnt to accept being alone after heartbreak and acknowled…

We can all feel paralysed by the guilt that we might not be doing enough to combat climate change, but actor, director, and environmental activist Bonnie Wright feels we should celebrate imperfect and in-process actions. A little can go a long way. In this chat with Fearne, Bonnie explains why it might be helpful to stop thinking about how we can m…

Fearne is a Goodwill Ambassador for Mental Health and Wellbeing for The Prince’s Trust, a brilliant charity that helps people who have faced disadvantage and adversity to get their lives on track, supporting them into education, training, and jobs. In this special episode, Fearne chats to Emma-May about the role The Prince’s Trust has played in hel…

Who gets to decide who and what you are? Amanda de Cadenet quit the fame she’d found on British TV after being hounded by the press. She was seen through the eyes of others – journalists, photographers, and viewers – so she chose to reclaim her image by becoming a photographer herself, and reclaimed her voice by starting her own chat shows. In this…

What do you feel the meaning of life is? Purpose? Happiness? Does it matter if we’re not sure? In this chat, Fearne and actor Minnie Driver explore how it might gently fluctuate as we go through different stages of our lives. Minnie also talks about her innate ability to articulate emotion, something that was often agony during her childhood, but h…

Rugby player Jonny Wilkinson was once driven by a quest for perfection, and an obsession with becoming the best player in the world. Now though, he’s learning to be content with who he is in the present. In this chat, Jonny and Fearne explore the idea that sometimes our own imagination is what’s limiting our idea of success before we’ve even begun,…

It’s been thirty years since brothers Isaac, Taylor, and Zac Hanson started making music together, but despite growing up under the spotlight they’ve retained an incredibly strong sense of self. In this chat with Fearne, they talk about the role their parents and faith played in helping them stay grounded in a turbulent world. They also give an ins…

We’ve been encouraged to suppress our intuition, to look to others for answers instead of trusting that we already have the answers within ourselves. Spiritual guide and teacher Giselle La Pompe Moore is determined to help us return to our authentic selves. In this chat, Fearne and Giselle share their belief that spirituality isn’t an elite club th…

You might feel aware that the internet makes you feel strangely disconnected from others, but writer and podcaster Emma Gannon feels it makes us disconnect from ourselves too. In this chat, Emma and Fearne dissect cancel culture and why we’ve got to allow each other the space to learn and grow, as well as why our offline activity should take preced…

If you’re a high achiever, do you ever wonder if you sometimes use success to mask pain? Performer Will Young recognises this is something he did for many years. Now though, he’s discovered the importance of actively connecting to others and physically moving trauma out of his body when he finds himself in a low place. In this chat with Fearne he e…

Does being happy make us healthier, not only mentally, but physically too? Dr Rangan Chatterjee explains the very real effect chronic mental stress can have on our bodies. 80% of ailments he sees as a GP are due to our collective modern lifestyle – that’s not to shame anyone, it’s to help us understand the lifestyle changes we can all make to allev…

Actor Ruth Wilson feels she can’t help but bring the essence of herself to all the characters she plays. She’s learnt that in both her professional and personal life the most rewarding moments come from being the most authentic version of herself. In this chat with Fearne, Ruth wonders whether embodying so many different characters has helped her b…

Why can it feel more difficult to talk about mental health with the people you’re related to? In this Mother’s Day special of Happy Place, Fearne and her mum Lin explore their shared ancestry, wondering how much of who they are and what they feel is down to nature, and how much is nurture. In this chat, Fearne hears about her maternal grandmother, …

Death is often viewed as something dark and muted, but after the death of her beloved sister, author Clover Stroud began to see the world in vivid colour. In this chat Fearne and Clover explore how death can teach us that it’s the tiny moments in life that truly matter; it’s the in jokes and funny glances that we remember about people. That realisa…