Fearne Cotton has been working in TV since she was 15. Growing from a children’s show presenter to the Top of the Pops host, and then to a radio star, she has now seen plenty of superstars, some of whom she remembers fondly. Eminem is one of them.
She actually loved her role most of the time, as it allowed her to travel around the world and meet incredible artists, such as Amy Winehouse. Fearne calls Amy one of those mythical creatures she came across in her line of work.
Mythical Creatures And Where To Find Them
“Radio One, especially, gave me so many brilliant chances to see the world’s greatest musicians this close, playing live in that Live Lounge. They are some of the greatest moments of my life”, Fearne reminisces on the recent episode of the Great Company with Jamie Laing podcast. Some of those moments stayed with her forever.
“One that stands out, which I’ll never forget. It was at Maida Vale, and I was quite literally standing in a big studio with my producer, just us two, and Eminem on his own stood as far away from me as you are away from me now, rapping in my face. I’m just standing there going, ‘How is this happening?’ Like, this shouldn’t be happening. I’m just some twerp from the suburbs. What is going on?”
But Eminem’s stardom was not the only thing that impressed the young presenter that night. It was also a lesson in professionalism. She saw up close how Marshall switches between his personas, bringing the best operas he can to the audience. “You rarely see this level of exception with someone of his calibre. I have never seen anything so slick in my life”, Fearne shares. “In the rehearsal, he was swearing and cussing. And we were like, ‘Oh my god, I’m going to have to interrupt him mid live performance and stop it’ю And as soon as we went live, he self-edited like I’ve never seen. He was full of charisma, full of energy. He was, he is just IT”.
Compare and Contrast
While Fearne Cotton has the best memories about working with Eminem, another British broadcasting legend, Jo Whiley, filed an interview with Eminem in her memory under the “horrible experiences” label. Jo had a conversation with Eminem and Dr Dre, and they made her feel “so tiny and so stupid”.
Looking back now, she calls it “a really unpleasant experience”. It sounds even stranger because earlier, she had a lovely time interviewing Em before fame found him. Was it fame coming to the head, the dynamic between the duo that made them blind to other people’s feelings, or maybe some chemical alterations? Whatever that was, by 2010, when Eminem appeared in Radio 1’s Live Lounge, it was gone. So, Fearne had much better luck, and her initial impression of Eminem has never been spoiled.
