TV presenter Steph McGovern reveals she had therapy to cure night terrors

She gave birth to her first child back in November. 

And TV presenter Steph McGovern revealed she had therapy after suffering from awful night terrors about losing her 10-month-old daughter.

The former BBC Breakfast star, 38, told The Sun: ‘When I was younger, it would be worrying about school stuff. I once went out of the door and actually went to school, in my sleep, in my uniform, at two in the morning. 

‘As I’ve got older, they have become more vivid. And since having a baby, I will regularly wake up and think I’ve lost her.

‘I imagine she’s in bed with me and I’ve dropped her, or I’ve lost her. Quite a few times, my partner has found me on the floor scrabbling around under things or in cupboards, looking for the baby.’

Steph said that when she is asleep, her brain isn’t working enough to know her daughter actually is there. 

As well as being a mother to her little one, Steph is also busy working on her new daytime show, Packed Lunch, which debuts on Tuesday. 

She said that she also has been having the night terrors about work and one night, her partner woke up to her screaming in their bedroom. 

Steph had a nightmare that a man had exposed himself to her at work and that she was unable to do her job. 

And since then, Steph has been having counselling sessions and said that while she has not been cured, her therapist has helped her with coping mechanisms.

Acknowledging that her night terrors seem to flare up when she is stressed, she refrains from looking at her phone before going to bed now. 

Steph’s latest words come after it emerged that staff at Channel 4 have been left fearful for the future after lay-offs and wage delays at the cash-strapped television station.

The entire production team for the channel’s new flagship programme The Steph Show have been stood down amid fears for its long-term future.

And some of the network’s remaining workforce have been left worrying over mortgage payments after staff were told their monthly payday is being delayed.

The Steph Show was launched just six months ago from presenter Steph McGovern’s home, but then pulled from schedules because of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Now, production staff – some of whom left big jobs at the BBC’s Breakfast Show to join McGovern – have been laid off. Channel 4 bosses say they hope the programme will return in September, but well-placed insiders suggest it could face a permanent axing.

A spokesperson for the programme, which has been off the air since the beginning of May, said: ‘We are working towards the production of The Steph Show as it was originally intended – with a live audience from a studio location in Leeds – in the autumn.

‘Production was disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent filming restrictions. On production resuming, our ambition is that large numbers of crew will return.’

But one source said: ‘The excuse being given is Covid, that they can’t film because there needs to be an audience. But ITV’s Loose Women usually has a live audience and they are still filming without one. It is all very strange. It is also quite curious that the whole team are not required, with many now actively looking for other work.’

Meanwhile, Channel 4 staff have been left furious after being told their payday has been changed so that they are paid four weeks in arrears. After receiving their salaries on August 15, they won’t be paid again until six weeks later on September 30.

The change is understood to have been made for cash-flow reasons, but some staff have been left fearing they will miss their mortgage payment dates. One said: ‘Some people live hand-to-mouth and don’t have savings to get them through at this difficult time.’