Alison Hammond Gives Health Update After On-Air Health Scare: “I Thought It Was a Heart Attack”

Alison Hammond thought she was having a heart attack. Hospital tests say it was a panic attack, and the This Morning host is talking openly about how frightening it felt.

The scare played out live on ITV on Friday, Oct. 2. Hammond and co-host Dermot O’Leary were in the middle of a segment about pets when she left the studio.

She had been seen clutching her chest at the edge of the frame before O’Leary helped her off the sofa.

O’Leary addressed viewers after the ad break. “Alison is feeling a little unwell, so she’s just had to duck out,” he said.

Hammond was taken to hospital. From her hospital bed, she posted an Instagram Story telling fans she was fine but getting her heart checked, and suggested she may have had a palpitation or a panic attack.

She also apologized for the abrupt exit. “I would never leave a TV show,” she told followers.

She stayed in hospital overnight and was discharged the next morning.

The results came back clean. She thanked National Health Service staff for checking her heart, lungs and bloods, and said everything was clear.

“I’m all okay,” Hammond said in her Oct. 3 update.

The all-clear left one explanation. In her words, it meant she “had a massive panic attack on live TV,” a clip This Morning later aired for viewers.

She did not shrink the experience to fit the diagnosis.

“It felt very real to me,” the 51-year-old said.

Panic attacks are new territory for her. “I’m really new to panic attacks so I need to learn more about it,” Hammond said, before thanking the This Morning team, viewers who sent messages, and O’Leary, who she said had been incredible.

Not everyone responded with concern. Katie Hopkins posted a video questioning why the episode was a news story and mocking Hammond’s weight.

Hammond answered in the comments without taking the bait.

“I’m still a Chumba womba babs!!” she wrote.

Then she described the moment plainly. “I thought it was a heart attack it was very scary,” Hammond added.

The show moved on with care on Monday. When This Morning returned on Oct. 5, Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley told viewers Hammond was resting at home and already feeling much better.

Shephard also made a light-hearted joke about the incident, after he and Deeley shared the reassuring update.

Hammond is no stranger to the program’s audience. She first appeared on This Morning in 2003 and became one of its main presenters in 2021. She also co-hosts The Great British Bake Off.

For now, the takeaway is simple and reassuring. Her heart is fine, she is home, and she is learning about something she had never faced before, on live television, in front of the nation.