Tracey Spicer reveals mental health battle and crippling anxiety attacks

Tracey Spicer reveals mental health battle and says she suffered crippling anxiety attacks that saw her faint TWICE on television


Tracey Spicer has revealed that she suffers from panic attacks that have been so severe, she has fainted on television. 

Speaking to Body+Soul Magazine’s latest issue, the 54-year-old said that her early days on screen were plagued by anxiety.

‘It started with heart palpitations. Then clammy hands and cold feet,’ she explained. 

Panic: Tracey Spicer has revealed that she suffers from panic attacks that have been so severe, she has fainted on television. Speaking to Body+Soul Magazine’s latest issue, the 54-year-old said that her early days on screen were plagued by anxiety. Pictured in Body+Soul

‘The last thing I remember is feeling light-headed, before collapsing on the studio floor. During my first weekend on metropolitan television, I fainted. 

‘Not once, but twice. Foolishly, I had agreed to come back to present the weather segment a second night after this disastrous opening act.’ 

Tracey says she learned to manage her anxiety over time, and it did not get in the way of her career.   

Memories: 'It started with heart palpitations. Then clammy hands and cold feet,' she explained. 'The last thing I remember is feeling light-headed, before collapsing on the studio floor. During my first weekend on metropolitan television, I fainted.' Pictured in the 2000s

Memories: ‘It started with heart palpitations. Then clammy hands and cold feet,’ she explained. ‘The last thing I remember is feeling light-headed, before collapsing on the studio floor. During my first weekend on metropolitan television, I fainted.’ Pictured in the 2000s

She added: 'Not once, but twice. Foolishly, I had agreed to come back to present the weather segment a second night after this disastrous opening act'

She added: ‘Not once, but twice. Foolishly, I had agreed to come back to present the weather segment a second night after this disastrous opening act’ 

‘Despite setting an extremely low bar in the early 1990s, I sustained a 30-year career in the media by learning to manage performance nerves, panic attacks and, at times, crippling anxiety’ she told the magazine. 

Tracey discussed her battle with anxiety in her 2017 book, The Good Girl Stripped Bare – and the family history she inherited. 

‘In my book, I wrote about my beloved father’s challenges with depression and anxiety,’ she said at the time.  

Building back: Tracey says she learned to manage her anxiety over time, and it did not get in the way of her career

Building back: Tracey says she learned to manage her anxiety over time, and it did not get in the way of her career

Changes: 'Despite setting an extremely low bar in the early 1990s, I sustained a 30-year career in the media by learning to manage performance nerves, panic attacks and, at times, crippling anxiety' she told the magazine

Changes: ‘Despite setting an extremely low bar in the early 1990s, I sustained a 30-year career in the media by learning to manage performance nerves, panic attacks and, at times, crippling anxiety’ she told the magazine

Since her fainting episodes back in the day, the media personality says that she’s managed to get her anxiety to a ‘low level’. 

Tracey is an Walkley Award winning journalist who rose to fame as a newsreader  on Ten Eyewitness News.

She and her her cameraman husband, Jason Thompson, have a daughter, Gracie, and a son, Taj. 

For confidential 24-hour support in Australia call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Read more: In Body+Soul Magazine

Read more: In Body+Soul Magazine

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk