Alison Hammond made a triumphant return to This Morning on Friday, a week after unknowingly suffering a panic attack live on air that forced her to walk off the set mid-broadcast.
Earlier this month, Alison was presenting live on This Morning when she was seen abruptly leaving the set, panting and clutching her chest.
She later shared that she was undergoing tests after fearing at the time she was suffering a heart attack, which turned out to be a panic attack.
At the beginning of Friday’s edition of This Morning, Alison triumphantly began the live show by declaring: “I’m back!”
“Thank you, first of all, for holding the fort,” she told co-host Dermot O’Leary. “And thank you to everyone who sent their good wishes.
“All I can say is, in that moment, it was probably one of the scariest things that I’ve ever been through. It was surreal. I felt like I went into the other world [like in] Stranger Things. I felt like I’d gone into the Upside Down world.
“I couldn’t grasp my breath, and it was a panic attack. I feel guilty that I didn’t have a heart condition or anything, a little bit, because it was so much of a fuss. But I didn’t know! It was the first time I’ve ever experienced anything like that.”
She continued: “It was live on TV, so I thought, ‘oh my gosh, my son might be watching’. So I just ran. I ran off TV! I would never do that normally, but I just couldn’t catch my breath.
“It was instant. It was just like a wave – which I now found out is adrenaline. I couldn’t catch my breath and I genuinely thought I was having a heart attack.”
Alison added: “I’m so glad I’m here, I feel so grateful, I feel so thankful to God, to everything in life. I’m so happy that I’m here, and I’m so happy to see you, you were absolutely wonderful.”
Later in the show, Alison and Dermot led a discussion about panic attacks in light of the Great British Bake Off host’s experiences a week earlier.
During the week, Alison was awarded the “Honorary Gay” prize at the queer magazine Attitude’s annual awards show, but declined to attend in person following her on-air panic attack days earlier.
Instead, she sent her former Big Brother housemate and friend Kate Lawler in her place, who read out a message from Alison which read: “I’m absolutely gutted I can’t be here tonight to accept this incredible award in person.
“Some of you may have seen, I recently had a very public episode live on television. And let’s be honest, if you’re going to have a breakdown, you might as well have it on ITV with millions of people watching. That deserves an Honorary Gay award in itself.”
Earlier in the week, Alison also shut down comments about her made by far-right commentator Katie Hopkins, saying: “I thought it was a heart attack it was very scary. ’I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, even you, [because] you are beautiful on [the] inside and out.”
