EXCLUSIVE. Kate Ritchie's management team have been locked in crisis talks with the one-time soap star after she was spotted stopping off at a bottle shop and acting erratically while making the afternoon school run to pick up her daughter. The popular Nova 96.6 radio star spent Friday shuttered away in her ritzy Randwick home in Sydney's eastern suburbs as she contended with the fallout from the alarming incident and ensuing episode where she was seeing crying in a public park.

Ritchie's agent Mark Morrissey and fellow manager Erin Keneally were seen arriving at the former Home and Away star's home mid-afternoon on Friday before leaving separately about an hour later. It comes as a cloud continues to hangover Ritchie's return to the airwaves alongside her Nova breakfast co-host Ryan 'Fitzy' Fitzgerald and Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli after the missing the show's critical return from the ratings break this week.

Station insiders said they had been told Ritchie had taken an unexpected leave of absence this week because she needed to stay home to look after her daughter, Mae. They said the network's bosses had been shocked to learn the 10-year-old, whom she shares with former footballer ex husband Stuart Webb, had actually been at school – and were increasingly alarmed by her public behaviour. They were particularly troubled by images that showed her driving a red Hyundai i30 to a BWS bottle shop near her home shortly after 3pm on Thursday before picking up her daughter from school and heading to a nearby park.

Kate Ritchie's management team have been locked in crisis talks with the one-time soap star after she was spotted stopping off at a bottle shop and acting erratically while making the afternoon school run to pick up her daughter. Kate is pictured. Ritchie's agent Mark Morrissey (pictured) and fellow manager Erin Keneally were seen arriving at the former Home and Away star's home mid-afternoon on Friday before leaving separately about an hour later.

The popular Nova 96.6 radio star spent Friday shuttered away in her ritzy Randwick home in Sydney 's eastern suburbs as she contended with the fallout from the alarming incident and ensuing episode where she was seeing crying in a public park. Pictured: Erin Keneally. Video obtained by Daily Mail Australia shows the former actress crying while on the phone, wiping tears from her eyes and burying her head in her hands.

A witness, who saw Ritchie get out of the car at the park, said the star 'looked really distressed'. 'She walked around a bit in the park while talking and then suddenly she sat down and started rocking her whole body back and forth and crying,' they said. 'It was really confronting – she looked so upset. When she turned around her eyes were all red and puffy and she looked absolutely devastated.'. Ritchie's daughter stayed in the car as she sat in the park, leaving the vehicle idle but the engine running.

The actress, who is set to front in the ABC's upcming parenting special The Role of a Lifetime, was then seen struggling to get up from the grass. 'After the call ended, she tried to stand up but lost her balance and sort of fell over again,' the bystander added. 'When she finally managed to get to her feet, she started making another phone call... she looked much happier during that call.'. The radio host, 46, seemed dishevelled throughout the afternoon as the incidents unfolded within just a few hours.

The incident has raised significant concerns within Nova, given Ritchie's ongoing struggle with her personal demons. A cloud continues to hangover Ritchie's return to the airwaves alongside her Nova breakfast co-host Ryan 'Fitzy' Fitzgerald and Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli after the missing the show's critical return from the ratings break this week. Station insiders said they had been told Ritchie had taken an unexpected leave of absence this week because she needed to stay home to look after her daughter, Mae.

Handing her daughter her phone through the rear passenger window, Ritchie then walked around to the back of the vehicle – holding an arm out on the car as she got into the driver's seat and drove home. Nova's co-hosts had promised their audience earlier in the week that the absent Ritchie would be returning to the show on Monday but ceased to mention her impending return after details of the daytime drama were made public on Friday.

Although the heavily promoted their program as 'Fitzy and Wippa with Kate Ritchie' throughout Friday's breakfast program, her absence went largely unacknowledged as fellow network star Chrissie Swan filled the void. Nova refused to comment on Friday when asked whether Ritchie would be returning to the show next week or expand on the circumstance surround the episode. Her agent also refused to respond to Daily Mail Australia's requests for comment.