Jessica Rowe has spoken out about her struggle with depression after leaving Studio 10 back in 2018.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, the 50-year-old TV host said she decided to step away from the show to spend more time with her family.
She confessed that it was only after she left the Network 10 morning talk show that she realised how exhausted she was.
Speaking candidly: Jessica Rowe has spoken out about her struggle with depression after leaving Studio 10 back in 2018
‘At the time people gave me quite a bit of slack about it and said it’s old-fashioned. My choice was about leaning in for my family,’ she said.
‘I feel lighter and happier that I’m actually present. I was running on empty, juggling so much… thinking I had to have this great career, be a good mum and wife.’
Jess has been married to news presenter Peter Overton for 17 years, and they share two daughters, Allegra, 13, and Giselle, 11.
Resigned: In an interview with The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, the 50-year-old TV host said she decided to step away from the show to spend more time with her family. Pictured at a marie claire event in Sydney on Monday
She regularly speaks openly about her battle with depression, and told The Australian Women’s Weekly in March 2019 that she was near breaking point when she decided to quit Studio 10.
‘I could feel at the end of each show, not every day, but most days I would be close to tears,’ she said at the time.
‘I’d feel that behind my eyes and was just about keeping it together. And I thought, “Why am I doing this to myself?”
Family time: Jess has been married to news presenter Peter Overton for 17 years, and they share two daughters, Allegra, 13, and Giselle, 11
‘I feel lighter and happier that I’m actually present. I was running on empty, juggling so much… thinking I had to have this great career, be a good mum and wife,’ she said
‘I knew that I was heading down, I knew that my anxiety was there, that I was getting depressed and that if I didn’t make a change I’d start to falter.’
Jess announced she was leaving Studio 10 during an episode live on-air back in March 2018, and has since appeared on the show as a guest.
‘There wasn’t a lightbulb moment in terms of making this decision. But we went on a family holiday last year, I started to think long and hard about how being present with them made them feel and made me feel,’ she said at the time.
‘I felt like a failure because of my mental illness, but now I know that it’s an illness like any other and nothing to be ashamed of,’ she said
In a December 2019 interview with news.com.au’s body+soul, Jess confessed that she used to feel like a ‘failure’ because of her battle with mental illness.
‘I felt like a failure because of my mental illness, but now I know that it’s an illness like any other and nothing to be ashamed of,’ she said.
‘I asked for help, went to a psychiatrist and started taking medication, and I’m far healthier in my head as a result.’
‘I asked for help, went to a psychiatrist and started taking medication, and I’m far healthier in my head as a result,’ she said