The panic attack came on very quickly, she explained.
“It just was like a wave, something which I’ve now found out is adrenaline. That came into my body. I couldn’t catch my breath and I genuinely thought I was having a heart attack.”
The experience has given her a new perspective on life, she continued.
“I’m so happy that I’m here, and I’m so happy to see you,” she said, putting both hands on Dermot’s cheeks before hugging him.
“You were absolutely wonderful. And I’m so glad we’re alive, and if anything it’s made me look at life so much differently. Taking stock, look after my health. I’m drinking a lot of water.”
The 51-year-old compared the feeling of the panic attack to crossing into a “surreal” place like the otherworldly Upside Down in TV show Stranger Things.
“I felt like I went into the other world – what’s that show that I loved? Stranger Things. You know when you go into the Upside Down world? I felt like I went into the Upside Down world.
“I couldn’t grasp my breath, and it was a panic attack.”