Today host Karl Stefanovic has been grappling with new challenges as he tries to rebuild his breakfast news program: how to use an allen key and construct a cot.
The 45-year-old has been hard at work preparing the Sydney home he shares with shoe designer wife Jasmine for the birth of his fourth child and her first.
‘We’re slowly getting a nursery together,’ Stefanovic told Daily Mail Australia. ‘I’ve had a fair few boxes arrive at the door and I’ve had to get the allen keys out.
‘I’ve helped build the cot, they’ve got this breast-feeding chair thing that I’ve put together. This is not easy stuff for a guy like me. But we are all ready to roll now.’
Stefanovic is about to experience fatherhood again 13 years after the birth of his youngest son and despite some COVID-19 inconveniences is excited to welcome a new baby into the world.
‘I can’t wait,’ he said. ‘We discussed it very early on in our relationship and I was very excited about the prospect of having a baby.
‘We do have a very loving relationship and to have a baby as an expression of that love is incredible.
‘It’s never an easy thing and I think that kids are a miracle and we just can’t wait to meet this little girl. Just to shower her with all the love that we have.’
Karl Stefanovic and wife Jasmine will welcome their first child into the world next month. Preparations for their daughter’s arrival have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis but the couple – and Stefanovic’s three other children – are excited. ‘I can’t wait,’ he says
Jasmine has been posting occasional updates on her pregnancy to her Instagram account. She can’t even get a proper foot massage as she prepares to give birth to her first child with Karl
Stefanovic has been fitting out a nursery in the family home on Sydney’s lower north shore. He has helped assemble a cot and breast-feeding chair but admits he is no handyman
Stefanovic was unsure until recently if he would even be able to attend the birth of his second daughter due to restrictions caused by coronavirus.
His mother Jenny will be far away in Cairns for the occasion but Jasmine’s parents Bob and Cheryl Yarbrough will come down from Brisbane so they can spend a fortnight in quarantine then help care for the baby girl.
‘It’s a really exciting time for us as it is for anyone who’s having a bub,’ Stefanovic said. ‘It’s just the fact that it’s surrounding by this terrible virus.’
Jasmine Stefanovic will give birth to her first child in a Sydney hospital next month
Stefanovic is not sure how often he will be able to visit his 36-year-old wife and newborn in hospital before the pair is allowed to come home.
In recent weeks he hasn’t even been able to hug his infant nephew and niece – children to brothers Peter and Tom – and Jasmine’s 94-year-old grandmother won’t be able to hold her new great-grandchild.
Stefanovic stepped back into fronting Today this year with new co-host Allison Langdon after being dropped in late 2018 from the Channel Nine show he had presented since 2005.
He knows how blessed his life is when so many Australians are facing incredible pressures amid COVID-19 and has been using his public position to urge people to look after each other.
Stefanovic’s greatest immediate COVID-19 concern has been for the health of his wife and unborn child.
‘The most important part during this whole COVID thing is that she’s healthy and happy and that Jas is all right when she comes through it as well,’ he said.
‘It can be an anxious time anyway so when this is happening it does make it doubly nervous for anyone who is pregnant.’
‘We do have a very loving relationship and to have a baby as an expression of that love is incredible,’ Stefanovic says of his wife and the birth of their first child
Stefanovic says after months of preparations for the birth of his fourth child he and wife Jasmine are ‘ready to roll’. Jasmine posted a picture of a car baby seat to Instagram
Stefanovic and Jasmine, who are both Queenslanders, recently moved from one rented mansion on Sydney’s lower north shore to a slightly cheaper one.
He has been spending almost all his time outside work in the four-bedroom, five-bathroom house which is split across four levels and includes a home cinema and wine cellar.
‘I am the least handy dude in the history of the world,’ Stefanovic said of his toil in the nursery. ‘I’ve put together a few things and I’ve had a few screws left over and the occasional bracket.’
Jasmine is due to give birth next month but exactly when is out of the couple’s control.
‘I’m not going to be specific because we just don’t know,’ Stefanovic said of the baby’s arrival. ‘It’ll be in May and it’s a baby girl.
‘For a while there it looked like I may not even be able to be in the birthing suite. Fortunately it looks like I’ll be able to do that which is a wonderful thing.
‘But again it’s not going to be a normal process because I don’t think grandparents are allowed, my mum’s in Cairns so she’s not going to be able to travel down.
‘We’ve got Jas’s mum and dad in Brissie who are coming down two weeks before just so that they’re quarantined here.
‘Then they’ll come into our place when they’ve been through that quarantine period.’
Stefanovic’s daughter Ava has contributed suggestions to a shortlist of names for her new sister and her father says some of them are ‘rippers’. Father and daughter are pictured
Stefanovic said he and Jasmine had a shortlist of names but would not choose one until their daughter was born.
‘The name is something very private for us and something we’re looking forward to seeing when she comes out.’
‘I think naming a child is one of the most beautiful and precious things you can do so we’re really looking forward to it.
‘We’ve zeroed in on about five different names and I think we’ve just got to see her then we’ll make the decision from there.’
Stefanovic has three children with former wife Cassandra Thorburn: Jackson, 20, Ava, 15 and River, 13. Ava has her own ideas about what her sister should be called.
‘My daughter’s had all sorts of great suggestions and some of her suggestions are in the mix as well,’ Stefanovic said.
‘We’re just going to see what colour hair and what colour eyes she has – whether or not the little girl’s got my ripping body. All those things will come into it.’
Stefanovic still does not know how often in the early days after the birth he will be allowed to visit his wife and new child.
Karl Stefanovic met Jasmine Yarbrough on a friend’s boat in December 2016, five months after he split from his wife. They married two years later and are preparing for the birth of their first child
‘When we are having the baby and I go into the hospital I’m not sure I’m allowed to come and go as I please,’ he said.
‘So I’ll probably take a few days off when the baby’s born and then maybe a week down the track a bit when the baby’s out of hospital.
‘We’re going to have some family here which is great. We’re going to have plenty of support around.
‘So it’s a very different vibe but it’s also incredibly exciting still at the same time.’
Stefanovic would not be taking any lengthy time off from his duties on Today in the midst of covering COVID-19 – the biggest story of his life.
‘I love working and I love my job,’ he said. ‘I’m fortunate enough to be back doing it.
‘My job is to inform and I love it. And my job I think is to entertain, however badly I do that. But I do think it’s a vocation and these are the times when I want to be on air.
The Stefanovic clan is close and Karl has missed the company of his three siblings and mother during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pictured left to right are Peter, Tom, Jenny, Elisa and Karl Stefanovic
‘Not through any ego reasons but I feel like I can deliver and disseminate that information at a pretty efficient pace and in an efficient way and I want to be there.
‘If there’s any health reason I can’t be there I can’t be but I’ll be there every day that I can for the next however long.
‘I know that things can get more busy later on at about three months so I’m just going to see how it goes but Channel Nine have been brilliant.’
Stefanovic had been on the road for Channel Nine News when the first of his children was born. He had also juggled fatherhood with being a stand-in newsreader, A Current Affair presenter and 60 Minutes reporter.
‘Times have changed,’ he said of his previous commitments and employers’ attitudes to childbirth. ‘I remember when I had my other kids you’d be lucky to have a day off.
‘But I think importantly it’s a big change and it’s wonderful to be able to have that flexibility and have some time off.’
Stefanovic is sick of talking about his divorce from first wife Cassandra Thorburn (pictured) and wants to get on with his life while wishing her well
Stefanovic said there would be differences in how he approached fatherhood the fourth time around.
‘I like to think I’ve been a pretty good dad along the way,’ he said.
‘I think every dad would have a level of insecurity about how good they’ve been but at the end of the day my kids are loved.
‘I think this time around it’s obviously going to be different. I’m going to be a bit slower but I think slower might be a good thing.
‘I’m not in such a hurry to go somewhere else and I’m not chasing the yarns overseas like I was when I was building up to this point in my career.
‘And I don’t think that’s any great sleight on me as a father – it’s just the way things were.
‘As a family we were working towards other things but you are busy in your 20s and 30s. You’re providing for your family every step of the way.
‘You’re pretty busy making your way and you don’t stop to smell the roses sometimes but that’s the way it is.’
Stefanovic acknowledged eating more during his wife’s pregnancy – allegedly to empathise with her changing body – had also slowed him down.
‘The guts of it is that I am slower now. However said that I think it’s also important for me as I get older to be able to run around.’
Stefanovic’s three children with his first wife Cassandra Thorburn are excited to be getting a new sister. Karl is pictured with his eldest child, Jackson
‘I’m focusing on my fitness now and trying to get back to doing a level of fitness during the week and that’ll improve when the baby’s born.
‘I don’t want to be one of those dads sitting in the corner unable to run around with my child so that’s important for me to try and get fit again and get ready for all that.
‘And it will help mentally as well.’
Stefanovic does most of the cooking in the household. ‘I love cooking,’ he said. ‘I find it really therapeutic.
‘I love slow roasting something things like lamb, pork shoulders, anything that requires a minimal effort for maximum result.’
Stefanovic, who had been delegated a 3.30am nappy changing shift by his wife, said working in morning television meant he would be home for most of the day.
‘I’m going to be able to spend more time at home really enjoying it and taking the time and get to see the kids in the afternoon and on the weekends as well,’ he said.
‘It just feels like a really nice time.’
Stefanovic said his three other children, who he shares with first wife, 49-year-old journalist Thorburn, were excited about greeting their new sibling.
‘They’ve been terrific and there’s a level of excitedness and trepidation,’ he said.
Stefanovic married Jasmine Yarbrough in Mexico in December 2018. The supposedly lavish wedding has been cited as contributing to him being sacked as Today host. He is pictured with father-in-law Bob Yarbrough
‘But ultimately they’re going to have a little sister to be able to take care of and to accompany them and I think everyone’s looking forward to that, which is nice.
‘I don’t think they’re looking forward to the cries and the tears and whatever baby tantrums are coming but none of us are.’
Stefanovic’s divorce from Thorburn after 21 years of marriage thrust his children into an unwanted spotlight but they are adjusting to a blended family life.
‘I don’t think that any of that kind of stuff is easy but they’ve been very relaxed about it,’ he said. ‘They’re all pretty comfortable with where they’re going in their own lives.
‘They know that it’s pretty chilled and Jas and I are pretty chilled people and I think that they’re pretty relaxed about it.
‘I don’t think they lay awake at night thinking what’s going to happen when a little baby comes along. I think it’s more a case of “that’s cool” and they’ll deal with it as it comes.’
Stefanovic does not like media intrusion on his personal life but accepts some attention is part of his job.
He no longer wants to talk about his much-publicised split from Thorburn, who has recently been presenting a podcast on divorce.
‘I’m very reluctant to talk about it anymore because no one wants to hear any more about it,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to talk about it. My kids don’t want to hear it.
‘I just think it’s done and can we please all move forward because we have and we are. It happened. Let’s all just move forward.
‘My kids don’t need to be reading blow-by-blow accounts from their parents in the press about what happened. If there’s an interest then let there be an interest buy I’m not going to be adding to it.
‘It’s not an easy thing being the child of a high-profile person. They’re beautiful kids and I’m very very fortunate and now it’s time to move forward and trying to get on with our lives.’
Stefanovic and Jasmine met on a friend’s boat in December 2016, five months after he had separated from Thorburn. He was not looking for love at the time.
‘The last thing I expected was to find someone and to fall in love with me,’ he said.
Asked why Jasmine fell in love with him Stefanovic said: ‘I don’t know’.
‘I’m very fortunate I wake up every morning and I thank god for having her in my life.
‘I’m just very lucky. I don’t know what it is about me. I don’t look at myself in the mirror and think “what a stallion”.
‘I’m sure a lot of people think “what on earth is that middle-aged dude doing with her”?
Stefanovic’s brother Peter and his wife Sylvia Jeffreys recently welcomed Oscar, their first child. Stefanovic has not been able to hold his nephew recently due to coronavirus
For Stefanovic, who wed Jasmine in Mexico in December 2018, it was easy to explain the attraction of his wife.
‘I think there’s a light about her and a loyalty and an inner beauty – that was the biggest attraction for me,’ he said.
‘And she’s beautifully loyal to her friends and her family. She’s just a great Queensland girl and I’m very, very lucky.’
Stefanovic joked that motherhood for his wife had come from being in the right place at the right time.
‘I think it’s just a timing thing,’ he said. ‘It took her a while to meet someone as tall and handsome as me. It’s not easy. There’s not a lot of us out there.
‘It’s a burden that you have to carry and I think that she’s done the right thing and it’s going to be a really beautiful baby that hopefully looks like her.’
The couple recently spent $3.6million on a four-bedroom house at Noosa on Queensland’s Sunshine coast where they hoped to spend more time.
‘That is a desire,’ Stefanovic said. ‘We’re very fortunate to be able to have that and it’ll be great to spend time up there.
Stefanovic has been hosting a weekly spoof tonight show put together with friends as they all work remotely during the coronavirus crisis. He is pictured on his rooftop presenting the show
The couple recently spent $3.6million on a four-bedroom house (pictured) at Noosa on Queensland’s Sunshine coast where they hoped to spend more time
‘The quicker COVID-19 ends the quicker we can get up there.’
The family will not be moving to Queensland while Stefanovic’s work is in Sydney.
‘Work’s always going to be here,’ he said. ‘There’s stuff that we can do up there but I think work is predominantly always going to be here.’
Jasmine had to cope with enormous scrutiny when she began a relationship with Stefanovic and that intensified with the wedding which supposedly contributed to his dumping as Today host.
‘I think it’s getting easier,’ Stefanovic said. ‘I think that we’re getting to a point where there’s not much interest and we’re pretty boring.
‘We weren’t expecting any interest like that in our little old lives. But it happened and it is what it is.
‘You won’t see us being very public very often in the future. We’ve got this little girl to protect and I don’t want her to have to deal with some of the stuff the kids have had to deal with.
‘Hopefully that won’t happen. Getting things right for our daughter is paramount and protecting her and the other kids from here on is a huge focus.’
Stefanovic says he will do some things different fourth time around as a father. He is pictured with his nephew Oscar, son of his brother Peter and sister-in-law Sylvia Jeffreys