Fearne Cotton has spoken about a deeply difficult period in her life, alluding to feelings of “shame” linked to her former boyfriend Ian Watkins and the fallout from his horrific criminal convictions. 
The 44-year-old presenter, who dated the Lostprophets frontman briefly in the early 2000s, reflected on the emotional impact of his case and how it affected her while she was working at BBC Radio 1.
Watkins was later convicted in 2013 for multiple serious offences and was serving a long prison sentence when he died in custody last year at the age of 48.
Although Cotton has never directly commented in detail about the relationship before, she now suggests in her new book Likeable that the public attention and association left her feeling overwhelmed during that time.
She recalls a painful period while on air, describing the emotional strain of being at work while a major news story connected to her past was being widely discussed. 
In excerpts reported by The Mirror, she wrote about feeling “glared at, stared at, yet utterly ignored,” and questioning whether colleagues were talking about her behind her back. 
She admitted she struggled to cope internally, saying she suppressed anger, sadness, and emotional distress in order to continue broadcasting, describing it as a time marked by “depression and heaviness.”
However, she also explains that through therapy she later came to understand that the shame she carried was not her own, but something she had absorbed from external judgment and public perception.
Cotton says she no longer carries that emotional burden in the same way, adding that much of it “belongs to others” and reflects how she was treated at the time.
Watkins, who co-founded Lostprophets, was convicted in 2013 for multiple offences involving children and received lengthy prison sentences. He died in prison in October last year.
In recent reflections, Fearne has spoken about shame more broadly, sharing that she has learned through experience and therapy that it is often internalised unfairly and can distort how people see themselves.
She has since continued her work as a broadcaster, podcaster, and author, while focusing on mental wellbeing and personal growth.
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/
