TV presenter’s panic attack live on-air

An ABC reporter has had to pause in the middle of a broadcast after experiencing a panic attack live on-air.

News Breakfast weather presenter Nate Byrne was in the middle reading Queensland’s weather report on Tuesday morning when he very calmly asked to hand back to ABC News Breakfast co-presenters Lisa Millar and Michael Rowland.

“I’m actually going to need to stop for a second,” he said.

“Some of you may know that I occasionally get affected by some panic attacks, and actually that’s happening right now.

“Lisa, maybe I could hand back to you.”

Millar was more than happy to take over and highlighted a piece written by Byrne in 2022 about his experience of on-air panic attacks.

In the piece, Byrne described how his first panic attack happened on live TV, a “terrifying experience” that changed his perspective on mental health.

“Nate wrote a great piece on the ABC online website about this and I reckon we might re-up it, put it on our socials, so you can have a bit of a read because it’s fantastic that he has been so open and transparent about it,” Millar said.

“The response when he first wrote about it and spoke about it was that everyone said, ‘Oh thank god, Nate’s not perfect, we thought he was perfect, but actually he’s now sharing something’.”

Byrne was later welcomed back to the show and apologised for stepping out.

“Sorry if I gave anybody a bit of a scare,” he said.

“You’ve been very honest before about getting panic attacks on air and it’s great for people to know that it can happen to anyone,” Millar replied, before Rowland jumped in with a joke.

“Gave me a scare because I thought I’d have to finish doing the weather report,” he said.

Byrne then thanked his team for helping him out during the attack before the broadcast resumed.

Rowland has since shared the moment on social media, emphasising Byrne is OK following the incident.

“Nate’s open about his panic attacks — he’s even written about them before — and he’s doing okay!” he wrote in a post to Instagram.

“Thank you for all the supportive messages.

“As a team, we’ll always have your back, Nate. Always. (Although I hope I didn’t make matters worse with me bear hug off-camera).”

People have flocked to the comments to offer their support, with many praising him for “normalising” the attacks.

“They are awful things. Love to him,” one person commented.

“So much love your way. Thank you for normalising panic attacks, this is what we need so badly, to know we are ok to be us,” another wrote.

“Thank you for your openness and honesty. Makes it easier for others to speak up,” another added.

It comes after Carrie Bickmore revealed she has suffered from anxiety and panic attacks since she was about 20.

“It’s hard, actually, to describe what I felt. It was like shame, I think, [also] embarrassment,” the Hit Network’s Carrie & Tommy show co-host said.

“I don’t think I really fully understood what was going on in my own head. I think talking about it almost made me feel more anxious, so I just kept it in my own head.”