Susanna Reid was plagued by "terrifying nightmares" at the start of lockdown.

Susanna Reid

Susanna Reid

The 49-year-old presenter admitted the early days of the coronavirus crisis were "very frightening" and she regularly woke up in tears, even though she couldn't remember what had been happening in her dreams, because she was so scared.

She said: "It was an anxious time for everybody, but those early days were very frightening.

"I started to have really vivid, terrifying nightmares where I would wake up screaming and crying even though I couldn't quite remember what the nightmares were."

The 'Good Morning Britain' host hailed her fellow presenter, Kate Garraway, as a huge "inspiration" for the way she's returned to work while her husband Derek Draper remains gravely ill after contracting coronavirus several months ago.

She said: "It has been a nightmare that has knocked all of us for six, but Kate is living through it every day.

"To watch her put on a brave face and carry on has been an utter inspiration for all of us who work on the show, and I also know she's an inspiration to everyone who watches it. I don't want to speak on her behalf, but we are a very tight team and this has been the foremost of our thoughts."

Susanna - who has three teenage sons with former partner Dominic Cotton - admitted one of the hardest things about working during lockdown was having no hair stylist or make-up artists, so to make things easier for herself, she stopped washing her hair during the week.

She added to Stella magazine: "The daily struggle for me during lockdown was doing my own hair and make-up. I'm rubbish.

"I'd set my alarm at 3.15am just to tackle my hair, spend ages blow-drying it on a Monday then I used dry shampoo for the rest of the week because I couldn't cope.

"My make-up lady sent me a painting-by-numbers picture of a face so I could work out how to apply all the make-up. I look smart on air but at home I'm dressed down and high street all the way."