Jessica Rowe says she is “incredibly humbled and just blessed” to be honoured as a Member of the Order of Australia for her long commitment to mental health advocacy and her 20-year career in broadcasting. Photo: Getty Images
“I was hoping I might get a tiara,” exclaims Jessica Rowe, bubbling over with excitement. “It’s the little girl in me!”
The 44-year-old television presenter says she is “incredibly humbled and just blessed” to be honoured as a Member of the Order of Australia for her long commitment to mental health advocacy and her 20-year career in broadcasting.
Rowe’s parents possessed a strong sense of social justice and impressed upon her and her two sisters “the importance of being part of something bigger; that it’s not just about you”.
Her mother Penelope became her first touch point with mental illness, diagnosed with bipolar disorder when Rowe was 10. She became an ambassador for beyondblue in 2002, while a newsreader on channel 10, and has spoken candidly about her mother’s condition and her own experiences with post-natal depression, which affects one in seven new mothers.
“I felt a failure and I felt guilty,” she says. “We’ve got so much pressure on ourselves to be the perfect mum, the perfect wife, the perfect partner.”
Rowe has worked with Lifeline, SANE Australia and the Mental Health Council of Australia. She is also a patron of Kookaburra Kids, which supports children who are primary carers for a parent.
“We don’t hear about carers and they do so much work, and basically keep so much of the country going,” she says.
Awareness of mental illness has grown, but the stigma and discrimination remain, Rowe says. Although she felt a responsibility to talk openly about her experiences, this was not shared by everyone in public life.
“People, understandably, are still frightened that they will be judged,” she says. “We have a long, long way to go.”