Laura Hamilton, 39, opened up on her first experience suffering a panic attack, after she found out her neighbours had been saying nasty things about her online. The A Place in the Sun presenter recognised that being in the public eye comes with criticism no matter what, but when she saw the “awful” things written about her and her family by people in her neighbourhood, she didn’t know how to deal with it.
Speaking to on Netmums’ new Sweat, Snot & Tears podcast, she looked back at the scary incident, where she convinced herself she had caught coronavirus after she lost her voice and was unable to breathe.
“I couldn’t believe the amount of stuff that was being said about me, my family, my children,” she said, after finding conversations on an app.
“I was like, ‘Hang on, these are people in my neighbourhood that are talking about me, saying these things.'”
Laura recalled being rushed off her feet, like most people in the middle of the pandemic, working and juggling home schooling and trying to keep her restaurant shop going.
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“Alex asked what’s wrong and I didn’t know, I can’t describe what was happening.
“I just didn’t feel right, so I went upstairs to lay down on the bed and no matter what I couldn’t breathe,” she said, despite having tried different relaxation positions.
“I ended up saying to him, ‘I think you need to call an ambulance because I don’t know what’s going on.'”
But as soon as the paramedic checked Laura over, he knew exactly what was wrong.
After asking if she’d ever had a panic attack before, the TV star was in total shock: “I said, ‘No? What? What are you talking about?'” she recalled.
“I felt awful for wasting their time!”
The paramedic reassured her that she shouldn’t feel guilty, which left Laura wondering how she had let people like that get to her.
“I felt silly for that,” she admitted.
