*Fox 13 Memphis anchor Dominique Dillon found herself at the center of a viral television moment after exhaustion caught up with her during a live broadcast.
Dillon briefly dozed off at the anchor desk during the July 29 edition of “Good Morning Memphis.” According to USA Today, co-anchor Ernie Freeman later joked about the moment by calling her “Sleeping Beauty.”
Dillon told “Today” that she immediately realized something had gone wrong when she woke up as the segment transitioned.
“I opened my eyes, and it was cutting to the next shot, and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I can’t believe this just happened to me,’” she said. “I am mortified. I was pinching myself under the desk like, ‘This has to be a nightmare.’ Like one of those work nightmares, because this is not my life right now.”
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The circumstances behind the moment quickly shifted the conversation from embarrassment to the realities facing working parents. Dillon had been home the previous evening with her two children while her husband worked a double shift. Her 8-month-old daughter, Delilah, was teething and would not settle down.
Dillon said bedtime ran well past what she had planned, with the baby finally falling asleep around 10:30 or 11 p.m. Her workday begins unusually early. Dillon wakes around 1:30 a.m. before heading into the station, leaving her little opportunity to recover from the difficult night.
Even the control room did not immediately recognize what was happening. Dillon said staff members assumed she had lowered her head to look at her tablet.
The clip later circulated widely online, but much of the response focused on empathy rather than criticism. Fox 13 publicly supported Dillon, who returned from maternity leave in April, and playfully referred to the incident as a “power nap.” The station said her experience illustrated the pressures new mothers often face while adjusting to work after having a baby.
“There (are) so many mothers out there and parents in general who work hard,” Dillon said. “They show up to work, they give 100%, and then they go home, and that’s like a whole other full-time job as well.”
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