BBC star Miquita Oliver has admitted her early television success spiralled into addiction and financial ruin after becoming "rich" in her early 20s. The presenter, 42, reflected on the dramatic highs and lows of her career during an appearance on the How To Fail with Elizabeth Day podcast, revealing how landing major TV jobs at a young age changed her life almost overnight.
Miquita, who found fame presenting Popworld, T4 and later BBC Radio 1 shows, recalled the moment she discovered just how much money she was about to earn.
"I remember exactly where I was when I heard things," she said. "I remember walking upstairs and my agent told me how much money I was going to make that year, and I was 20. And I remember thinking, 'Jesus Christ, I'm rich!'"
From wealth to addiction
She explained the news came as a huge shock because she had grown up in a family without money and was still living at her grandmother's home in a bedroom previously used by her cousin, singer Mabel. Looking back, Miquita admitted she initially embraced her newfound success. "I was a bit like, 'Right, I guess I can do anything.' And I had a really nice sort of year or two of really enjoying my success."
However, she said things soon took a darker turn. "I really did. Lily [Allen] got famous around then as well, and I was like, 'Gosh, this is all going very well, isn't it?'"
She continued: "And then 23, 24, I don't know what happened. Well, probably drugs and alcohol. And I just had a shift, and suddenly it was all about trying to keep it all together. I guess pressure, the pressure of weekly TV."
Bankruptcy and fallout
Miquita has previously spoken openly about the financial difficulties that followed the height of her television career. In 2011, she was declared bankrupt after failing to pay a tax bill before later rebuilding both her career and finances.
The broadcaster has also recently reflected on another difficult chapter from her early fame, breaking down in tears while discussing her former feud with fellow presenter Fearne Cotton. Speaking on the BBC Sounds Miss Me? podcast with Jordan Stephens, Miquita admitted she had been "awful" to Fearne in her twenties after publicly calling her a "devil woman" in an interview more than two decades ago.
She said: "Basically when I was 20 I did something really awful that I was really ashamed of for a long time." In 2005 she did an interview with NME and was asked how she would improve Top of the Pops, to which she replied: "Get rid of the she-devil Fearne Cotton." Miquita was sacked from her BBC Radio 1 gig as a direct result of the remarks.
She told Jordan: "I wasn't very nice about her at all, I was awful about her, and I was fired from Radio 1 because of it. We didn't like each other – I don't even think she didn't like me, but because I'd been so awful about her, I think she stayed away from me."
Reconciliation and healing
Miquita said she later realised the pair had been pitted against one another by media coverage at the time, explaining that she had felt she didn't fit the mould of what a television presenter "should" look like. The pair have since reconciled after Fearne reached out with a supportive message on Instagram. Miquita described the exchange as "healing", while Fearne later replied publicly: "Beyond grateful for how we've reconnected. Makes me very happy."
