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Mel Doyle on struggle of Sunrise gig: 'Wish I had the guts to say no'
Mel Doyle has opened up about her time hosting Sunrise alongside Kochie, saying “it was bloody hard” juggling motherhood with her career.
The newsreader, who hosted Sunrise for 14 years before announcing her departure in 2013, opened up to journalist Stephanie Hunt on her podcast And We’re Rolling, about the difficulties of the past-paced role.
“You know Kochie was fantastic. He was a dad of four and was very aware to a degree of some of the things I was going through,” Mel said.
“I started Sunrise when [son ]Nick was six-months-old, I just finished maternity leave. And then I had [daughter] Talia... and I only took a few weeks off to have her and then I came back and we had to go on the road every Friday for the first month of me coming back. Our wonderful boss at the time thought it would be great to take the show around the country.”
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Mel said she had a three-week-old baby at home and was still breastfeeding at the time.
“Everything still hurt, and everything was still leaking. It was just, it was really, really hard. I wish I had the guts to say no at the time but obviously I didn’t and you kind of think you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” she said.
“Now I look back, I probably should have said no. But it was really, it was hard.”
Mel said she was “tired for a decade”, getting up at 2AM to feed her baby so she could be at work by 4AM, but she always reminded herself that it was her choice to do it.
Fans of Sunrise were shocked in 2013 when Mel announced she would be leaving the show and Samantha Armytage would be taking her spot.
Speaking on Nova's podcast Powerful Steps, the 51-year-old journalist, opened up about how she dealt with being replaced by Sam, who was eight years her junior.
"Every change has been a challenge, but I think it’s really important to not look for the negative in things that happen," she explained, adding challenges during her childhood helped her learn to come back stronger.
"Like so many people growing up, there was, you know, my parents split when I was a tiny baby and both of my parents remarried a few times," Melissa said.
"So I grew up with my motto being 's**t happens', you know? And I think it’s really important to just remember s**t happens and I’m not going to sit in the corner and woe is me."
In August last year, Mel confirmed that she was departing Channel Seven after 25 years with the network, saying she was “sad to be leaving”.
In a statement shared on a new personal website via her Twitter page, Melissa said she left the network with a great deal of ‘pride, satisfaction and gratitude.’
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