"I was ready to quit": Jess Rowe and Peter Overton's big revelations
Jess Rowe and her husband Peter Overton left no secret untold on the latest episode of her podcast The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show.
The popular TV personalities tied the knot in 2004 and share two daughters Allegra, 15, and Giselle, 12.
On her podcast, the pair spoke for 52 minutes about being “desperate” to be parents, IVF, depression and their respective careers.
Suffering from polycystic ovaries (PCOS), a condition that affects a woman’s fertility, Jess and Peter were not able to fall pregnant easily and had to resort to IVF.
"I think we did four attempts and it wasn't easy," Peter revealed on the podcast.
"Going through IVF there would be times you'd feel hopeless and your spirits would be so low because you think this is never going to happen for us and both of us desperately wanted to be parents,” Jess added.
After three unsuccessful rounds, Jess fell pregnant and gave birth to their daughter Allegra in 2007 while their second daughter Giselle was conceived naturally.
However, it was too overwhelming for Jess who struggled with post-natal depression after Allegra’s birth.
"I felt like a failure when I had postnatal depression. I was so ashamed. I felt I had to hide it from you and I had to hide it from everyone because I felt like I was letting our brand-new family down,” she revealed.
Peter’s response was phenomenal. He stood by his wife and took her to the doctors and a psychiatrist, who eventually prescribed her anti-depressants.
Before falling pregnant, Jess was contemplating leaving her job as co-host of The Today Show alongside Karl Stefanovic.
It even reached the point that Peter was ready to quit the same network over the way his wife was being treated.
"I was ready to quit Channel Nine because I was so upset at the way you were treated. You said to me, 'We've got a mortgage to pay buster, don't make a stupid decision’,” he said.
Jess, however, spoke some sense into him saying it would be a “disaster” if they both quit their jobs.
The network at one point also offered the couple the opportunity to host the show together which was out of the question.
"I remember them also saying, 'Oh, maybe you and Jessica could host the show together?' I said, 'You're kidding me? You're going to ruin two careers, ruin a marriage and ruin a program in one hit? No thank you,'" Peter recalled.
Despite the challenges, both Jess and Peter agree that it brought them closer and made them stronger.
"You've really brought me out as a person. When I met you, I think my world was very narrow, and then I entered your orbit and, holy smoke, it was different," Peter said.
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