To the outside world Karl Stefanovic’s life is only getting better and better.
He’s launched a successful podcast The Karl Stefanovic Show, secured radio deal The Long Weekend with close friend Eddie McGuire – which if a success will likely be expanded into a five-day-a-week drivetime show with a rumoured hefty pay cheque – and he’s finally about to achieve his longed-for Today exit.
FAMILY BATTLE
But behind the scenes the TV host, 51, has been fighting a secret family battle.
“Karl must look back and wonder how he even got through the past few years. Close friends have confirmed he did hit rock bottom in almost all aspects of his life – there’s no sugar-coating he’s had one heck of a wake-up call”, an insider reveals.
“It’s no secret there have been some testing times between him and Jasmine, they were reportedly arguing a lot, they had to move house a number of times while they built their forever home on Sydney’s lower north shore – it’s not the family life he wanted for Jasmine and their six-year-old daughter Harper.”
There’s been growing concern that the relationship with his three grown children he shares with ex-wife Cassandra Thorburn – Jackson, 26, Willow, 21, and River, 19 – had become strained.
Our well-placed sources say, “Karl and Jasmine had drifted apart from the three kids, especially since Willow left to study overseas in London. Willow has always been the closest to her dad and Jasmine.”
When Willow spoke to Woman’s Day three years ago, she spoke gushingly of her young stepmum, telling us, “Jasmine is like my second mum, and has become more like a friend to me” – then all of a sudden this past year, relationships seem to have broken down at the same time Karl realised his reign on brekkie TV was ending.
“Health-wise he was a heart attack waiting to happen, and his multimillion-dollar deal with Nine was coming to an end at the same time his beloved family was reportedly falling apart.
“In true Karl style he brushed himself off, took a good hard look at what his life had become, and reinvented himself!”
He lost 15kg thanks to weight loss medication, launched his podcast and now has his new show with mate Eddie.
“Jasmine is surprisingly relieved that Karl is leaving Today. She knows whatever he does next he will still be paid the big bucks – you don’t just walk away from a $2.5 million deal without lining up another lucrative deal! This next chapter has to set Karl and his family up for life.
“It’s like she has her old husband back – which makes things so much happier at home. But the biggest shift for Karl is having his three adult kids back in his life. He wants to be the best dad he can be – and to be as supportive as possible for Jackson, Willow and River as their mum Cass continues her battle with a rare form of breast cancer.”
