RUTH Langsford has revealed the terrifying moment she thought she would die after suffering a panic attack live on TV.
The Loose Women anchor, who is a popular and experienced broadcaster, bravely opened up on her worrying experience in her new book.
Feeling Fabulous by Ruth Langsford, 65, which is out later this year but is currently being serialised in the Daily Mail, has been extraordinarily candid in addressing her life in the tome.
The pages see her open up on the “huge shock” of her split from her husband and former This Morning co-host Eamonn Holmes, 66, as well as how she sought therapy for her trauma.
The much-loved telly couple announced their separation in May 2024 after 14 years of marriage and 27 years of being together.
Yet prior to their relationship breakdown, and subsequent heartache, Ruth faced a crippling battle with her nerves.
She signed up for BBC reality series Strictly Come Dancing and was partnered with her preferred professional, Anton Du Beke.
The pair were tasked with a Waltz, to This Was Nearly Mine, for their opening routine – yet Ruth told how during the live show, she was close to fainting on stage.
She told how her fear struck after host Tess Daly announced the pairing, and her VT played out.
Ruth wrote: “It was at this point my brain seemed to detach from my body. As I walked down the stairs to get on the dance floor, I was aware of just how many people were in the studio. I live and breathe live television so that wasn’t a problem, but I had never performed in front of a big audience before and I swear I could see the whites of their eyes.
“Our dance began just in front of the orchestra (who gave me a little supportive wave). There were a few steps up to a little stage where a chaise longue was positioned for me to sit on demurely, waiting for my suitor – Anton – to appear.
“Then I was supposed to get up and walk towards him down the steps, where he would take my hand, whirl me around and, whoosh, off we would go. Here started the longest seconds of my life.
“I couldn’t move and I felt dizzy. I had no saliva in my mouth, so my smile was more of a grimace with my lips stuck to my teeth.
“My heart was beating so loudly I could hear it in my ears, and I was convinced the audience would be able to hear it, too.
“And I thought, I am going to faint. Right here, on Strictly. A live show. Nobody has ever done that before. Maybe they’ll cut the cameras or focus on the judges? Everything about the experience, from how I looked to what I was doing, was so alien to me”.
She told how ex Eamonn – who was watching in the audience with their son Jack – knew she was “in trouble”.
Ruth added, in the heat of the moment, she “couldn’t seem to make my legs work” and “it was as if my feet were blocks of concrete”.
“I just looked at him like I had no idea what I was doing there, as if someone had just plonked me down on the chaise and told me to stay still.
“He came up the stairs, took my hand and pulled me up, making it look like this was the choreography we had planned”.
Ruth admitted that after the routine she had “no memory” of what had happened on stage and later realised she had been having a “panic attack”.
She told how the “abject fear evaporated” when she decided to let herself go.
She reached week nine of the competition yet sadly missed out on the show’s iconic Blackpool Week.
And all worked out well as she remains pals with Anton, too.
Feeling Fabulous by Ruth Langsford, to be published by Hodder & Stoughton on February 26, priced £22.
