I was exhausted.I came close to burnout

Tess Daly speaks to Psychologies about her journey to wellness after being pushed to the brink, how she keeps anxiety at bay, and why she's dreading her daughters flying the nest

- BETH NEIL

Tess Daly can scarcely believe how quickly the years are whizzing by. It only feels like yesterday that she was cradling her eldest as a newborn, and yet, somehow, that tiny baby will be heading off to university this September.

Blink, says Daly, and you miss it. And for the time being at least, she has only one way of coping with her daughter’s impending departure from the Buckinghamshire family home: ‘Denial. Complete denial!’ she says. ‘I can’t even imagine it, but I do know that the whole empty nest syndrome is going to be crazy.

‘The centre of my universe has been my kids, so the thought of them ever leaving me feels… wild. I’ve actually told them that they can’t settle more than five miles away from home, and they both just raise their eyebrows at me.’

Having said that, Daly, 53, can see some positives to the changes ahead. The Strictly ComeDancing host and mum to Phoebe, 18, and Amber, 13, is looking forward to gaining back some freedom, and, once both girls have gone to uni, no longer being beholden to the school-holiday calendar.

‘I guess it leads to pastures new, like weekend breaks away without being held at the mercy of being back in time for school, as we have been for the past 16 years and counting. That’ll be a luxury.

‘But I can’t even think about empty bedrooms. I just can’t go there, it’s too strange to contemplate. I know it’s the future and it’s coming, but I really haven’t come to terms with it just yet.’