US news anchor caught napping on live TV: ‘I am mortified’

The brief clip quickly spread across social media, with co-anchor Ernie Freeman jokingly dubbing Dillon “Sleeping Beauty.”

Speaking about the embarrassing moment on NBC’s Today with Craig Melvin and Laura Jarrett, Dillon admitted she was completely caught off guard. “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.”

But there was a very real reason behind Dillon’s exhaustion. The mother of two had spent much of the previous night trying to get her children to sleep while her husband was working a double shift.

Dillon is mother to two-year-old Dakota and eight-month-old Delilah. She said her youngest daughter was teething that night and was particularly difficult to settle.

“I was trying to get them down to sleep at 8 o’clock, but my eight-month-old, she wasn’t having it,” Dillon told Today. “She was teething, and I just couldn’t console her. I gave her some teething medicine, and nothing was working. The next thing you know it’s 10:30, 11 o’clock before I can actually get her down to sleep.”

That left Dillon with only a few hours of sleep before she had to get ready for work. According to her Fox 13 biography, she has been with the station since 2019 and normally wakes up at 1.30 am to prepare for her early morning anchoring duties, which begin as early as 4.30 am.

The unexpected nap was so brief that even the production team seemed unsure how to react when the camera caught her.

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Dillon received an outpouring of support, particularly from working mothers who recognised themselves in her experience. Several viewers also questioned why the control room had put her on camera at that particular moment.

“You go mama, moms are superheroes. Also, we need more paid maternity leave!” one user wrote.

Another commented, “I’m mad at the technical director and the people in the booth who took her on cam like that tho.”

“Being a woman in USA is the most wild experience! We are all wonder women with zero support for motherhood,” a third person wrote.

“Every mom everywhere feels this,” another added.

Dillon had only returned from maternity leave in April, making the incident even more relatable for viewers balancing childcare and work.

Fox 13 itself embraced the unexpected viral moment. “The incident—or, as we refer to it around the newsroom, ‘the power nap’—has garnered national attention, and we couldn’t be prouder to have Dominique in the spotlight, highlighting how difficult it can be for new mothers to get back in the groove when returning to work,” Fox 13 said.

For Dillon, what began as an awkward few seconds on live television ultimately became a reminder that many parents are dealing with the same struggle. Although she admitted she was “mortified” when she realised what had happened, she said the reaction had helped her see a more compassionate side of the internet.

“It’s not always a nice place, and what I love so much about this situation is that it shows the good side of humanity and that people understand what I’m going through as a mother,” she said. “There (are) so many mothers out there and parents in general who work hard. 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, and they’re giving 100% to their families.”