Alex Jones reveals daily fear as she mourns lost university friend

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Grief and mortality took center stage on the seventh anniversary episode of Fearne Cotton’s acclaimed podcast ‘Happy Place,’ as Alex Jones stepped in to interview Fearne, flipping the usual format.
The conversation turned deeply personal when Alex spoke about the loss of her university friend Maggie, recalling, “We lost one of our uni girls and they’re my best friends, and we lost Maggie.
And she was just hilarious.
Her handbag was a lunchbox, you know, and she was just so funny.
She worked in the newsroom in the shortest of mini skirts, she was just a character.” Fearne, reflecting on her own experience of loss, shared how her interview with former monk Björn Natthiko Lindeblad, conducted when he had only a month left to live, was “one of the most important chats” of her life, and described how Björn had reached a rare peace with his fate.
When Alex asked, “Was he scared?” Fearne replied, “Not so much.
Not so much.
I think he’d really made peace with it, which is so rare.” Alex admitted, “Well, I mean, it’s supremely brave.
I’m scared of death every day of my life.” The discussion highlighted how confronting the topic of death and grief remains challenging, even for those who regularly explore mental health and human experience in public forums.
Fearne added her own struggle to process the death of her friend Kris Hallenga, founder of the breast cancer charity CoppaFeel!, saying, “Sometimes, and I’m sure you feel like this about Maggie, sometimes I just think oh Kris, she’s just in Cornwall.
Then I’m like, oh my god, she’s not and I can’t get my head around it – where is she? I cannot get my head around it.” Alex echoed, “That’s what I think,” and added, “They’re somewhere.” Fearne concluded, “They’re definitely somewhere.
But it’s so abstract, so surreal.
We hadn’t covered death, really on the podcast so I think that was quite confronting for a lot of people but I feel lucky we can chat about this stuff very openly.”
‘Happy Place’ has become a leading platform for honest conversations about mental health, resilience, and the complexities of being human since its launch in 2018, now encompassing live events, bestselling books, and a growing community.
The podcast’s willingness to address difficult subjects like grief reflects a broader societal shift, as recent studies show that open dialogue about death can help individuals process loss and reduce associated anxiety.
According to research published in the journal ‘Death Studies,’ people who participate in conversations about mortality often report greater acceptance and lower fear, reinforcing the importance of spaces like ‘Happy Place’ that encourage such openness.