Capital Summertime Ball 2024

[Jono]

Fearne Cotton is telling me about a picture she bought recently, called Vagina Leaves. It's by Jonathan Yeo, the society painter with a sideline in collages made from torn-up porn magazines. From a distance, these works look like cubist portraits – of George Bush, say, or Paris Hilton – but close up they are a riot of explicit action. Vagina Leaves, in which the photographs have been cut into the shape of falling foliage, is one of the most X-rated of all.

To say that the blonde, bubbly ex-Disney Club presenter doesn't seem the type to have pornographic artwork hanging in her kitchen is putting it mildly. This is the girl who presents Children in Need and Comic Relief, who blushed her way through an interview with Robbie Williams as he chatted her up on live television. She's the BBC's go-to girl for all things charity and youth-related. What would Auntie think?

But Cotton, who, in her own words, spent her teens 'making sticky-back-plastic egg-box jewellery cases' while her friends were drinking cider in the park, has grown into a woman of many contradictions. Now 28, her body is healthy and gym-honed – and covered with 16 tattoos. And we're not talking little birds and stars (though she has those, too); we're talking mermaids and roses covering most of her back, and massive fern leaves stretching from her hip to her ribcage. She is very groomed, with silky hair and painted nails. Yet she sits in a strikingly unladylike pose, with her right foot hitched up over her left knee, offering an uninterrupted view up her floral skater skirt.

'I've got quite a bit of art,' she says in her hard, loud voice. We're sitting at a small table barely two feet apart, yet Cotton shouts as though addressing an audience. It turns out that art is one of her few as-yet unexploited passions. Her love of pop music has translated into stints presenting Top of the Pops, The Xtra Factor and now the mid-morning slot on Radio 1 previously helmed by Jo Whiley.

Her interest in fashion has led to a bestselling range for very.co.uk and a make-up collection, Fearne, which launches in Boots next month. Even her friendship with Holly Willoughby, already the selling point for many a double-act television show (Celebrity Juice, Holly & Fearne Go Dating), has spawned a product. The Best Friends' Guide to Life, says the press release, is a book of stories and advice about 'love, friendship and work' aimed at teenage girls. It will hit the shelves in October.

'Hopefully, people just think I'm quite normal and down to earth,' she says of her extraordinary appeal. Cotton's persona is unmistakably British – a kind of high-speed estuary-inflected blend of Sybil Fawlty, Peggy Mitchell and Denise van Outen – all 'lovin' its,' 'lovely jubblies' and ''orribles.' But what is earthy and approachable to some is grating to others. Critics have called her 'tragically vacuous', 'unforgivably brainless' and 'more annoying than a dose of nits'.

There's no denying that Cotton has had her airhead moments. She uttered 57 'wows' in a 50-minute programme with Paris Hilton last year and spent most of her Xtra Factor interview with Leona Lewis in an interminable back-and-forth that went something like this.

Fearne: 'Has this last year just been amazing?'

Leona: 'Yeah, it's all just amazing!'

But these antics belie her clear-headed business savvy. 'You know, I've got to make hay while the sun shines because in this industry next week people could say, "Actually, I'm not that bothered about you anymore,"' she says. 'So I'm just trucking with the work for now, and I'm also trying to get more business opportunities in place, which are things I want to continue for years to come.'

On top of the myriad product and programming projects, Cotton keeps a photo diary of her outfits, called 'What's Fearne Wearing Today'. It's one of the most visited pages on the BBC website (her style involves lots of jewellery, band T-shirts and mismatched floral prints). She also tweets incessantly to her 930,000 Twitter followers, exchanging messages with the likes of Alesha Dixon, Tinchy Stryder and Sarah Brown in a typical day. As I write this Cotton posts a picture labelled 'My shoes tonight'. Within half an hour it's had 13,000 views.

This kind of dedication doesn't come without a price. 'I've got so much going on I have no social life at the moment,' she says. Cotton is very close to her family but says 'there's just never any time' to see them. 'My mum the other day was like, "Let me know when I can come for a coffee," and it's so s–y sending your mum an email back going, "I just don't even have an hour when I can do it right now."'

Cotton grew up in Eastcote in north-west London with her younger brother and parents. Her father is a sign-writer and her mother did a variety of jobs. 'She was never there, she was always working,' says Cotton, fanning herself. The east London basement studio where we've met is sweltering.

Cotton attended drama school in the evenings and that, she says, 'was my absolute passion. I'd run there straight from school most nights and at weekends and spend every breathing second dancing or acting and that's what I wanted to do so I auditioned for anything then the audition for The Disney Club came along when I was 15 and since then I haven't really had the chance to stop and think so I'm still doing it and it's all been great.'

This really is how Cotton speaks. Every time you think a full stop is coming it turns out to be a 'so' or an 'and' leading on to yet more words. Perhaps all presenters develop a fear of silence, but I can't help wondering if this impenetrable wall of sound isn't also a way to buffet questions away.

For example, in the past she's commented that, 'It's terrifying to think that kids want to be famous. That's an awful aspiration.It's not a job.' So I ask her if she worries that her television shows – Make Me a Supermodel, perhaps, or Fearne and…, in which she tracked Peaches Geldof for a week – are feeding the celebrity beast?

'There's such a fine, fine line between glamorising that sort of thing and making a good show. Like with my new show, Must Be the Music – I don't think any of our judges or myself would be involved with the show if we thought it was about the fame game. I mean we've got Dizzee Rascal in there, we've got Sharleen Spiteri, we've got Jamie Cullum, who are amazing musicians in their own right, and we all genuinely want to find someone who is an amazing musician.'

OK, what about Love Island? 'Well, Love Island – I think because they're already pre-existing celebrities, that was more a tongue-in-cheek fun show and that was one of the funnest shows I've worked on and I'd love to do it again so I think that one was just a laugh but it is a fine line.' Phew.

The more we talk, though, the more Cotton deviates from her script. You can almost feel her straining at the leash as she remembers the Eurovision contest in which she and Terry Wogan simultaneously announced two different winners. Wogan got it wrong, but the crew all assumed Cotton had made the mistake. 'Terry is such a wonderful man and it was a pleasure to have worked with him,' she says, continuing in this vein for several sentences.

But soon her spiel loses momentum and she remarks that there was 'a slight hint of sexism', in the episode. 'People assuming you're a dumb female. There are still certain situations where women don't get treated equally. In TV it's obvious – you have the anchor who is usually a man, and the woman has less of a role, or is not paid as well…'

In America, where Cotton has filmed some live shows, she says it's even worse. 'I went into this one meeting,' she begins, 'and obviously I've got quite a lot to say so I was rabbitting on and the [female] boss said, "I'm quite enjoying this chat. Usually after two minutes I get the blonde girls to do cartwheels down the corridor to see if they're wearing knickers but I can tell you've got some on." I was like, "Woah!" I couldn't believe she'd assumed I'd be such a bimbo!'

One prerequisite of Cotton's job is a thick skin. Critics and punters alike unhesitatingly voice their opinions of her. 'Like a few weeks ago when I was filming iTunes [for ITV2],' she says, 'the studio went a bit quiet and this guy shouted out, "Slag!" It was a live show so I had to carry on.'

Particularly evil is the text console in the Radio 1 studio, via which DJs see their listeners' messages. Most of these are from fans but many are cruel. On one occasion Cotton received such abusive messages the sender was arrested and the BBC arranged for the police to escort her home. 'You do just think, "Am I a bad person for doing what I'm doing?"' she asks, bewildered. 'I've never really understood it. Why am I irritating you so much? That's the only time when I really feel like, what have I done wrong here?'

On the upside, it has made her completely fearless when it comes to approaching men. She claims never to have been asked out by her boyfriends (who have included Peter Brame of Fame Academy and the model Jesse Jenkins). 'I'm always the one going up to them and going "Hello…! How are you?" and trying to have a conversation,' she says. 'I just think you only live once so why not?' Does she ever get knocked back? 'Loads!' she says with a laugh. 'But the knock-backs are great stories for your mates.'

She tells me she 'can't really say' whether she's seeing anyone at the moment but her coy smile and dancing eyes would suggest that she is. Her mother is clearly convinced: 'My mum's always going, "I've had this visualisation of what your wedding will be like,"' says Cotton. 'She always thinks she knows what's going to happen.' Fearne and her mother 'can be real hippies', she says. 'My mum and I always try new remedies and herbal things and kinesiology and rebirthing and what have you. My auntie reads my tarot cards for me and I love a bit of reiki and I meditate when I can.'

She is also into cosmic ordering, wherein, essentially, goals are written down in the belief that the cosmos will make them happen. 'We all cosmic order,' Cotton says of her friends. 'I have a blackboard in my kitchen which is a cosmic order board. It's just an ordinary blackboard,' she explains, 'but you make it a cosmic order board by believing in it, and my friends come round and write stuff on it and I swear some of the freakiest s– has gone down.' She lists several wishes that have come true for her friends, from new jobs to new romances. 'I should really write something down too, but I feel too scared! I always write stupid things like, "It would be lovely to do a really good radio show today."'

What would she ask for if she did? 'A holiday!' she shrieks.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/stellamagazine/7956657/Fearne-Cotton-Am-I-a-bad-person-for-doing-what-Im-doing.html

[kyle_y]

Really good interview! I was a huge Fearne fan back in the day when she was on Diggit and doing Finger Tips with Holly on CITV. I think the main reason I don't like her so much now is overexposure. It's a shame she gets such a hard time from audiences and critics. Shouting out 'slag!' while recording a show and sending her rude and abusive texts is just pathetic and really unfair. I'm not a fan anymore, I think over exposure is one of the main reasons why, but she does come across as a genuine person who's full of enthusiasm and committed to her work. I guess she's just the kinda person you either love or hate.

[Tom.]

commitment does not equal quality. Especially if Fearne 'I can't be arsed to do the last minute of my show so Greg has to introduce newsbeat" Cotton is seen as committed.

[MrDoovdeHaxorz]

I'll admit she does give fuel to haters here... :cry: but then the haters often don't NEED fuel

Have to say I don't see why people find her so irritating... I've seen a LOT of massive overreaction to her (including idiots calling for her to die, extreme much?), from some of it you'd think she had killed people or something.

[Computer]

Yeah, and even IF she IS very irritating, why the hell would you text in nasty messages? Seems sad more than anything. Sure, tell your mates that you think she's shit, even post it on a message board . But to text in nasty messages, really? G.A.L

[MrDoovdeHaxorz]

and to continue listening too... why listen to something you hate if you have the choice not to?

[Viv]

She is also into cosmic ordering, wherein, essentially, goals are written down in the belief that the cosmos will make them happen. 'We all cosmic order,' Cotton says of her friends. 'I have a blackboard in my kitchen which is a cosmic order board.

Great idea, this. I do it with my mobile phone, i.e. write out a text and store it.

This is how Noel Edmonds got his "Deal or no deal" job.

[Viv]

One prerequisite of Cotton's job is a thick skin. Critics and punters alike unhesitatingly voice their opinions of her. 'Like a few weeks ago when I was filming iTunes [for ITV2],' she says, 'the studio went a bit quiet and this guy shouted out, "Slag!" It was a live show so I had to carry on.'

Dickhead.

[MrDoovdeHaxorz]

Why was the guy there to watch her show if that's his opinion of her? :wacky:

[Viv]

Some people just randomly like to cause problems.... It was the same in Edinburgh, when someone shouted out at Scott. You could see him flinch, but carry on.

And no, it wasn't me.

[Bexprincess]

Aww poor Scott.

[E*F*4L]

One prerequisite of Cotton's job is a thick skin. Critics and punters alike unhesitatingly voice their opinions of her. 'Like a few weeks ago when I was filming iTunes [for ITV2],' she says, 'the studio went a bit quiet and this guy shouted out, "Slag!" It was a live show so I had to carry on.'

Dickhead.

that guy has the worlds smallest cock #fact

she is proper into art & her own paintings are pretty good to & i wouldn't mind buying one of hers myself Fearne is ace :hug:

[Jono]

Dickhead.

What have I done? :cry:

[krazy_chloe]

I have a bit of a soft spot for Fearne because I grew up with her doing kids' TV

[Bexprincess]

I think most of the DJs at radio1 have suffered abuse at one time or another,i know Scott and Aled have because of their sexuality. There are certain celebrities that i don't like but i don't watch or listen to them i certainly wouldn't waste my time abusing someone i don't even know!

[Viv]

that guy has the worlds smallest cock #fact

Oh, so you know, do ya?!

[Tom.]

People stick up for Fearne now, because she's getting abuse... she gets the abuse because she shouldn't be on the radio... she should be on the telly or doing journo stuff, or being an artist... Having said that Reggie is now my least favorite presenter and should be binned ASAP

[awinfield999]

Fearne and Reggie should be on TV more - but I think people need to give fearne more of a chance. Radio 1 have put her there because she is the right age for the listeners, but maybe she seems to gossip a bit much. The only other problem I have is that she isnt in very often, considering she has been gone now for three weeks.

[E*F*4L]

Oh, so you know, do ya?!

only somebody with a tiny penis would shout out something like that, he has to resort to things like that because that's the only way he could EVER get Fearne to notice him.

People stick up for Fearne now, because she's getting abuse... she gets the abuse because she shouldn't be on the radio... she should be on the telly or doing journo stuff, or being an artist... Having said that Reggie is now my least favorite presenter and should be binned ASAP

people send abuse into Moyles, Jo used to get it & so did Edith, i bet most of them do, Fearne isn't that bad, there are worse on the station already, the whole station is moving away from proper dj's & getting in 'presenters' .

[TheEpicPlum]

Some people just randomly like to cause problems.... It was the same in Edinburgh, when someone shouted out at Scott. You could see him flinch, but carry on.

And no, it wasn't me.

What did they say??

[TheEpicPlum]

I have a bit of a soft spot for Fearne because I grew up with her doing kids' TV

Same. I used to find it strange when she wasn't with Reggie or Holly though.

[Jugalug]

People stick up for Fearne now, because she's getting abuse... she gets the abuse because she shouldn't be on the radio... she should be on the telly or doing journo stuff, or being an artist... Having said that Reggie is now my least favorite presenter and should be binned ASAP

No. no, no. Don't be a stupid person. Whatever you think of Fearne on the radio, you cannot send abusive, idiotic, tiny-minded texts into her, for her to read, to hurt her, to require police protection on her journey home. That's just nasty, and however you might want to dress it up as her fault for being on the radio, you're simply wrong.

[Tom.]

That's not at all what I meant... I know that she doesn't deserve the hate, but if she wasnt so bad it would help her.

[MrDoovdeHaxorz]

People stick up for Fearne now, because she's getting abuse... she gets the abuse because she shouldn't be on the radio...

No that is a piss-poor and overused excuse. If that were the case, would she have idiots shouting out Slag during a TV show? I don't think so.

[Jugalug]

That's not at all what I meant... I know that she doesn't deserve the hate, but if she wasnt so bad it would help her.

I hope one day you'll grow up.