Leah Stewart, the 35-year-old survivor of a great white shark attack at Sydney's Coogee Beach, has spoken publicly for the first time since Melbourne radio hosts Kate Langbroek, Brendan Fevola and Nick Cody faced backlash for questioning her account of the incident. The trio, from 101.9 The Fox, suggested she had "embellished" details and doubted she would have had time to think clearly during the attack, prompting widespread public anger and calls for their sacking after Stewart's calm demeanour in TV interviews drew online trolling.

Stewart, who lost part of her left arm in the 13 June attack after being mauled while swimming between the flags, gave interviews to Channel Nine's 60 Minutes and Britain's Good Morning Britain, describing punching the shark repeatedly while thinking of her one-year-old daughter August. In an Instagram post, she admitted feeling "disconnected" from the ordeal, as if it happened in a dream, and said she felt "a bit scared" to move past her current state of mind. The radio hosts' comments coincided with a ratings slump for their show, with Fox FM's breakfast audience share falling from 10 per cent to 8.9 per cent.