Vicky Pattison has developed a public career spanning radio presenting, publishing and podcasting, while also using her platform to discuss women’s reproductive health. Her work with Heart has grown from a regional weekday role into a UK-wide Saturday programme, and she has continued to host long-running audio projects alongside her work as an author.
A second important part of her public profile is her discussion of premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD. Pattison has spoken directly about her experience in interviews and, more formally, before the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee.
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | Vicky Pattison |
| Profession | Presenter, author and podcast host |
| Radio work | Presenter with Heart |
| Publishing | Multiple books published through Hachette |
| Podcasting | Hosted The Secret To and later co-hosted Get A Grip |
| Public advocacy | Women’s reproductive health and PMDD awareness |
| Parliamentary work | Gave evidence to the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee |
| PMDD | Publicly discussed her diagnosis and experience with the condition |
How Her Radio Work Developed
Heart’s parent company, Global, announced in August 2023 that Pattison would permanently join Heart North East’s weekday Drive programme. She began the role on 11 September 2023, establishing a regular position with the regional station.
Her radio work expanded again in 2025. Heart announced that she would move to a Saturday 4pm–7pm programme broadcast across the UK, giving her a wider national audience.
That role remained current when Heart’s North East schedule was checked in August 2026, with Pattison still listed in the Saturday afternoon slot. Because radio schedules can change, the most accurate description is that she continued to hold the position as of that date.
Publishing and Podcasting Became Major Parts of Her Work
Pattison also has an established publishing record with Hachette. Her autobiography Nothing But the Truth was published in March 2016, while The Secret to Happy later appeared in paperback in January 2023.
Hachette describes Nothing But the Truth as a number-one bestseller and The Secret to Happy as an instant Sunday Times bestseller. Those descriptions come from her publisher, so they are best understood as Hachette’s stated publishing record rather than independently reconstructed chart results.
Podcasting became another sustained part of her professional work. She hosted Vicky Pattison: The Secret To, created with Spirit Studios, from 2020 until June 2024. Its final episode was released on 19 June 2024.
She returned to regular podcasting the following year as co-host of Get A Grip with Angela Scanlon. The programme, produced by Audio Always, launched in April 2025 and was still releasing new episodes in August 2026.
Why Pattison Began Speaking Publicly About PMDD
One of Pattison’s most clearly documented areas of public advocacy concerns premenstrual dysphoric disorder. When she appeared before the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee on 18 October 2023, she told MPs that she had been diagnosed with PMDD approximately three months earlier.
She described experiencing worsening symptoms for several years before receiving that diagnosis. According to her evidence, she had sought medical help repeatedly while trying to understand what she was experiencing.
The diagnosis is publicly confirmed through Pattison’s own parliamentary testimony. The parliamentary record documents what she told MPs, although it is not an independent clinical record and does not establish a precise medical diagnosis date beyond the approximate mid-2023 timeframe she gave.
She also explained how the condition could affect her professional life. Pattison said she still tried to maintain ordinary routines, including work and exercise, during difficult periods and generally attempted to meet her commitments even when her symptoms were not obvious to those around her.
Her Evidence to Parliament and Menstrual Health Advocacy
Pattison’s parliamentary appearance went beyond describing her own experience. She argued that people dealing with conditions such as PMDD should have access to clearer information from trusted medical and public institutions.
She told the Committee that informal online communities had helped her recognise that something might be wrong, but she did not believe people should have to rely primarily on those spaces for health information. She supported greater access to professionally regulated guidance and stronger menstrual-health education.
Pattison also said that her own school education had not adequately prepared her to recognise or understand menstrual-health problems later in life.
Her evidence became part of a much wider Women and Equalities Committee inquiry. In December 2024, when the Committee published its findings on women’s reproductive health, it specifically mentioned Pattison and Naga Munchetty among the high-profile witnesses who had described difficulties obtaining effective care.
Her contribution was one part of a broader investigation involving many patients, professionals and organisations, rather than the sole basis for the Committee’s conclusions.
What Pattison Has Said About Changing Direction Personally and Professionally
Pattison has spoken directly about making deliberate changes in both her personal and professional life.
In a May 2025 interview with The Guardian, she said there came a point when she wanted to change direction. She changed representation and began therapy, while also acknowledging that she had to take responsibility for some of her earlier behaviour rather than blaming every difficult experience on the circumstances around her.
She has described self-acceptance as something she continues to work on rather than a finished process.
Privacy has also become a more complicated issue for her. During a June 2025 appearance on How To Fail with Elizabeth Day, Pattison described herself as an “over-sharer” and discussed the difficulty of deciding where openness should end and personal privacy should begin.
Her comments describe an ongoing effort to balance public openness with clearer personal boundaries.
Her Public Discussion of Family Experience and Alcohol
Pattison has also spoken openly about the effect of alcoholism within her family.
Channel 4 commissioned an authored factual programme in 2022 in which she examined her father’s alcoholism, its effect on the family and her own relationship with alcohol. The project was presented as a personal examination of those experiences rather than a general medical account of addiction.
In her later Guardian interview, Pattison said that gaining a better understanding of her father’s illness had also helped her make sense of some of her own anger and behaviour.
Her comments on this subject are personal reflections. They provide useful context for her public discussions of growth and family experience without supporting wider conclusions about other relatives or their private lives.
Where Her Work Stood in 2026
By August 2026, Pattison remained active in both radio and podcasting.
Heart continued to list her as a Saturday presenter in the 4pm–7pm slot, while Get A Grip was still releasing new episodes. New episodes appeared in late August, showing that the programme remained an active part of her professional work at that point.
She also continued discussing PMDD publicly. In an April 2026 appearance on The Independent’s Well Enough podcast, she revisited the length of time it had taken to obtain a diagnosis, the role of online information in recognising her symptoms and her views on menstrual education.
She returned to the subject in later first-hand interviews, including discussion of diagnosis, menstrual education and access to reliable information.
Vicky Pattison’s Work Beyond Her Earlier Public Profile
By August 2026, Pattison’s documented work included a continuing Heart role, active podcasting and an established publishing record. Her public discussion of PMDD also extended beyond personal interviews to formal evidence before the Women and Equalities Committee, followed by later first-hand discussion of diagnosis and menstrual education.
These strands provide a clear account of the professional work and health advocacy that define the article’s focus.