Jessica Rowe - Australian TV Personality, Post-Natal Depression
Jessica June Rowe (born 22 June 1970) is an Australian television news presenter who has worked on all three Australian commercial television networks.
Rowe attended Sydney Girls High School in Sydney, and completed a Communications degree at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst. During her studies she was a broadcaster with on-campus community radio station 2MCE-FM. She has been working in the media industry for over twenty years. Jessica is passionate about removing the stigma around mental health conditions. It is a very personal campaign – having grown up with a mother who has bipolar disorder – she understands the chaos and heartache that a mental health condition can cause to a family.
Jessica Rowe's Career
At 22 years old, Rowe started her career at Channel Nine as a receptionist for Nine's Wide World of Sports. She made her on-air debut as a weather presenter on Prime Television in Canberra. She was later spotted by Network Ten executives, and was made a main news presenter. She presented Ten Sydney's flagship Ten News at Five bulletin with Ron Wilson for almost 10 years, from 1996 until the end of 2005.
Personal Life and Her Post Natal Depression
When Jessica was only 10, her mother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. “As a little girl, that was so frightening… I would feel so powerless. I would lie in bed and I would hear mum crying night after night”. Jessica’s mother was often hospitalised, usually for three or four months at a time, sometimes each and every year.
When Jessica speaks about growing up, she explains what it is like to be the child of a parent who is unwell. “I went through a range of emotions. There were times when I would be angry and resentful because I would be thinking, come on mum, you are the one who is supposed to be looking after me!”
But it wasn't until she had postnatal depression after the birth of her eldest daughter, Allegra, that she understood the level of stigma and shame that you can feel if you have a mental health condition. She says, "Although I knew where to get help, had family support and the financial means to pay for specialists I still felt ashamed. I thought, what right do I have to be depressed? I have everything I could wish for... a beautiful baby, a wonderful husband. I felt like such a failure". Rowe said she wanted to tell mothers to use her Post-Natal Depression Week to tell mothers they are not alone in their struggle and to seek help.
"I had everything in life I could possibly wish for and finally I had this beautiful baby girl but I never felt more desperate and sad," she said.
Rowe went on to say how she was pushing her daughter Allegra along in her pram and looked like she had it together but "was dying inside" and felt "like there was a panel of glass between me and the outside world."
Jessica Rowe said “Despite the sleep deprivation, I couldn’t sleep. My waking hours were consumed by anxious thoughts. Why couldn’t I breastfeed? Was my baby putting on enough weight? Did using formula mean I was setting my daughter up for a life of obesity and lowering her IQ? I wondered how I could feel so wretched when I finally had my darling girl. After all, wasn’t I meant to be the superwoman who could deal with anything life threw at me? These were all pretty standard thoughts for a new mum. But something was seriously wrong. Because what weren’t so standard were the scary, obsessive thoughts that started to sneak into my befuddled brain.
The small silver Tiffany’s clock that I used to time breastfeeds became a weapon in my mind. I wondered how easily the clock could crack my baby’s delicate skull. My eyes would be drawn to the sharp carving knife in our second draw in the kitchen. I wondered if such a knife could pierce my little daughter’s soft skin. I knew I would never hurt my baby but these bizarre thoughts, of turning everyday objects into hazards, kept going around in my mind. I wrapped the knife up in newspaper and threw it away. I did this at night, so the neighbours wouldn’t see me. I hid the silver clock. It didn’t matter that these objects were out of sight, as they were very much still in my mind."
The 43-year-old, who has spoken about her battle in the past, said many mothers were still reluctant to admit they had a problem.
It wasn't until she opened up to her mother and husband that she began to seek help and with support and medication began to get better. Jessica realized she had to ask for help. Something that was very difficult to do, as she has always seen herself as 'strong and capable'. "However I realized that real strength came from admitting I needed help". She says with the love and support of her family, plus the wisdom of her doctor she came to realize that she wasn't a failure. "I just had an illness. And I needed treatment to get better. It can be hard enough being a mum – even more so if you have Post Natal Depression".
Because Jessica wanted to help others by sharing her experiences, she became a beyond blue Ambassador in 2002. Firstly, she spoke about her mother’s bipolar disorder and after becoming a mother, she also talked about her own experience of postnatal depression. This led to her becoming a Patron for the beyond blue Perinatal Mental Health Program.
“Sometimes you don’t have a choice about what happens to you, necessarily, but what you do have control over is how you deal with it."
Jessica is also a published author. She has co-authored a book with her mother, Penelope Rowe, titled The Best of Times, The Worst of Times, an account of their family’s experience living with Penelope’s bipolar disorder. Her second book, Love, Wisdom, Motherhood, reveals the struggles, joys, and heartache of motherhood through eleven women sharing their story.
"If my personal experience can help anyone and help reduce the stigma associated with mental health conditions, then that would be great. You need to speak up and get help. I am pleased to say there is plenty of help available today, but not enough people know where to find it."