Abbey Gelmi is finally speaking out about the moment Channel Seven pulled the rug from under her – and the timing, she says, made it all the more devastating.
The ABC sport presenter and Offsiders host was let go by the network in February last year, just weeks after welcoming her newborn son Ollie into the world. At the time, Abbey publicly framed her departure as a natural transition, describing it as “the right time for the next chapter” – a sentiment that painted the split as mutual and amicable.
Now, for the first time, she’s telling a very different story.
“My son, Ollie, was born in November [2024] and in February I was sat down by Seven and told my contract wasn’t being renewed and ‘don’t worry about coming back,'” Abbey told Stellar.
“Not to say anything Seven did wasn’t above board, and I’m sure they had their reasoning, but the timing of it – given my son wasn’t yet three months old – was really difficult,” she said. “I was still on maternity leave and it was just a really turbulent time.”
So why did she put on a brave face when the news broke? Abbey says she was in self-preservation mode.
“When it happened, I gave the impression that the time had come for a new chapter,” she admitted. “That was me protecting myself, but also processing a level of hurt and embarrassment I felt.”
What made an already painful period even harder was what came next. Shortly after her exit from Seven, Abbey found herself being targeted by a stalker – a Victorian man who bombarded her with repeated calls, messages and explicit videos sent directly to her phone. A police investigation followed, and the man was ultimately jailed.
Abbey has since spoken candidly about why she didn’t go to police sooner, revealing she waited around six weeks before reporting the behaviour – a delay she now deeply regrets.
“I thought you could only be harassed or stalked if a person has been in your presence or home … that’s not the case,” she said. “I can’t believe it did take me as long as it did to seek police help.”
She attributes that hesitation to years of conditioning working in sports media, where unsolicited and explicit contact from men online had disturbingly become part of the job.
“It’s certainly not something I’ll tolerate now,” she said, “and I’m so glad legislation has moved with the times to protect women.”
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