ROSIE JACOBS
Why she’s glad to be starting over.
Entering Rosie Jacobs’s light and airy apartment in the Sydney beachside suburb of Bronte, the smell of ‘new’ is everywhere. A sofa has just been delivered and furniture freshly assembled. As WHO sets up for a photoshoot with the TV personality, her two young daughters run from room to room, giggling loudly as they explore their new home. Minutes later, a neighbour rings the doorbell to drop off a bottle of ‘welcome’ champagne. It’s chaotic, yet Jacobs couldn’t be happier. After the “roller-coaster” of the last year, the Sydney Weekender presenter is in a good place. In fact, she’s never felt better. Having relocated from Vanuatu to her hometown of Sydney, she’s exuberant—and she’s only six days in. “I call it my ‘New York loft apartment,’ though it obviously overlooks the beach,” Jacobs says, smiling. “I’ve been having so much fun furnishing it. Everything is brand new, not just in terms of the house, but emotionally. For more than a year I’ve been visualising this moment. Everything is so exciting. I feel like a kid in a candy store.”
Speaking exclusively to WHO amid divorce proceedings from her partner of 11 years, former Today weatherman Steve Jacobs, the 39-year-old reflects on how the decision to call things quits was far from an easy one. Meeting on the set of the Nine breakfast show in 2007, the pair married three years later and went on to have two daughters, Isabella, now 7, and Francesca, 5. And while, to the outside world, the pair were the epitome of the perfect couple, behind the scenes, cracks were starting to appear. “Work was having a major impact on us as a family,” recalls Jacobs. “Steven was travelling more than 300 days each year for more than a decade, so we needed to spend more time together as a family. Plus, our lives in Sydney were very chaotic, especially with two young kids. It just felt a bit overwhelming.”
Quitting their high-profile media careers and hectic lives in favour of a more relaxed, back-to-basics existence in tropical Vanuatu in an attempt to heal their relationship, the couple announced their “sea change” and migrated to the South Pacific hotspot in January last year. However, despite the paradise setting, once the dust
settled and the excitement faded, their old problems resurfaced. “Unfortunately moving countries doesn’t always fix everything,” concedes Jacobs. “As anyone will know who has tried to make a sea change or tree change, if something isn’t working, it won’t fix itself simply by changing location. We go to Vanuatu and the first year felt like we were on a permanent holiday with the white, sandy beaches and all our new friends,” she continues. “But ultimately it wasn’t working. I have no regrets whatsoever, especially having children. Also, when you still have a lot of love for your partner, you don’t give up straight away, you try absolutely everything.”
After admitting defeat, when the pair finally announced their separation, it made headlines around Australia. Though Jacobs stayed in the expat community in Vanuatu for some time afterwards, she made the decision to return home to start a new life as a single mum. “It was a gut feeling; I just knew it was time to go home,” she says. “It was mostly down to knowing that I didn’t have my close family and friends nearby. Going through a separation is hard enough, no matter where you are, but it helps to have
the support of family and friends who remind you that you’re doing the right thing. And now, being a single parent, it’s more important than ever that I have the right people around me.”
At the centre of Jacobs’s decision-making are her two girls. “They are absolutely my main focus,” she says. “Everything boils down to making sure that they are priority No. 1. They were the main reason for choosing the new apartment, because I just knew it would be a space where they would feel happy and secure. It has this huge 70m loft level, which is a kids’ paradise.”
And although Isabella and Francesca love their new home, the relocation hasn’t been without its upsets, inevitable in a marriage breakdown when young children are involved. “Any separation is hard on a kid,” Jacobs acknowledges. “For me, it was important to find the right wording to explain it to them, to say that, while we’re not together anymore, we’re still Mum and Dad, and that we still love them both—to make them aware they are loved and nothing will ever change that. I make sure I have very open conversations with them and tell them that they can ask me any question they like. Right now, it’s about being as present in the moment with them, having fun and focusing on all the positives. I’m really proud of them —they’re proving to be very resilient.” Jacobs’s commitment to her daughters is shared by Steve. The 51-year-old weatherman has also relocated back from the South Pacific to a humble (in comparison to their sprawling villa in Vanuatu) unit in nearby Bondi, so he can be close to his two young children. “We share the girls now,” explains Jacobs. “Week-on, week-off. Steven moved back the day before I did because we’re so committed to this 50-50 arrangement. He’s very present and engaged with the girls and loves them entirely. Now we’re sharing custody, we’re so much more present with them, and grateful for the time we have with them, because it’s so precious. If anything [the split] has made us better parents.”
At one year shy of her 40th birthday, Jacobs has a body that women half her age would aspire to, so it’s unsurprising that one of the attractions of her new home is its proximity to the beach and the various exercise options nearby. “Exercise is so important for me,” she says. “Not just physically, but for the endorphins you get. I’m lucky to be right on the coastal walk between Bondi and Coogee. I’m a big fan of Bikram yoga and I’m really into Crossfit and boxing, which is so much fun. My real trick is to try and exercise with friends, so it’s a social catch-up and a workout at the same time. I’m also bringing my dogs back from Vanuatu, so I’ll be walking them twice each day, too. Just being outdoors and being as physical as possible helps make me happy.”
As for her mental health, Jacobs has a secret weapon to keep her on an even keel: her mum. “I call my mum as often as possible —she helps me stay sane!” she says. “I’m also a big fan of mindfulness. I’ve done quite a few silent weekends and things like that in the past, and it just makes sense to have some time to yourself every day to take stock, be calm and to appreciate the good things that happen throughout the day.”
It’s this technique that has bolstered the mum-of-two through the emotional minefield of her separation and subsequent upheaval. “It really has helped me get through it all,” she says. “To manifest positive thinking, which helps riding the storm when times get tough, so that you don’t let it overwhelm you. I’m going through this period of reinvention, setting up my new world, starting afresh and making choices based on what I want. Yes, it has been the hardest chapter of my life without question, but now I’m focusing on moving forward and being the best mum I can be. I feel very content—i’m honestly the happiest I’ve ever been.”
“Everything is so new and exciting. I feel like a kid in a candy store”