Jess Rowe opens up about struggling during her IVF journey

It might not have been love at first sight, but Jess Rowe and Peter Overton, or as she affectionately calls him, “Petey”, have built one of the most successful marriages in TV.

Celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, the couple’s path to happily ever after hasn’t always been easy, but Jess, 53, admits that marrying Pete, 57, was “the best decision” she ever made.

They first met when a then-19-year-old Jess was doing work experience at Nine – but a romance was the last thing on either of their minds.

“Sparks didn’t fly between us then,” Jess said on her podcast The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show.

“We were at very different stages of our lives.”

However, years later, the pair bumped into one another at the TV WEEK Logies and soon after, Jess decided to ask Pete out on a date.

Having recently gone through a divorce, Pete wasn’t sure he was ready for a new relationship, but after a nudge from a friend he accepted Jess’ offer, and they never looked back.

After tying the knot in 2004, the pair’s thoughts turned to starting a family but they soon learned that conceiving wouldn’t be an easy road for them.

“Aged 33, and newly married, I’d wrongly assumed that becoming pregnant would be easy,” Jess told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“We had a huge mortgage with a perfect baby room set aside, but suddenly there was a glitch in our plan – after two years of trying, my body was letting me down.”

Jess was diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), which affects a woman’s fertility, so the couple opted for IVF.

After a few failed attempts, Jess admits she felt “completely powerless” and struggled seeing those around her fall pregnant.

“I wanted to scream, ‘I’m on IVF and I don’t know if I can be a mum,'” she wrote in her memoir Is This My Beautiful Life?

“Don’t tell me how wonderful it is to be a mother! And don’t you dare complain about how tired you are.”

Fortunately, their fourth attempt was successful and in 2007, the pair welcomed their “little miracle” – a daughter named Allegra Penelope Overton.

It was during this emotional time that Jess also replaced Tracy Grimshaw as the co-host of Today alongside Karl Stefanovic.

She was instantly criticised for everything, from her haircut to her laugh, and upon returning from maternity leave in 2007, Jess was unceremoniously let go over “payment disputes” with the network.

Recalling the trying time in their careers and marriage, Peter says their IVF journey was what “sustained” them as a couple.

“That was our little secret wasn’t it? It was the thing that sustained us as all that rubbish went on at the Today show, at least we had our IVF journey,” he said.

Adding to their trials, Jess started to experience symptoms of anxiety after Allegra’s birth and was diagnosed with PND (postnatal depression).

“I felt like a failure when I found out I had postnatal depression,” she said on her podcast.

“I was so ashamed and felt I had to hide it from you [Pete] and from everyone because I felt like I was letting everyone down.”

But she summoned up the courage to tell Peter, and he stood by her every step of the way as she sought professional help.

After working on her mental wellbeing, Jess finally started to feel like herself again and during a date night with Peter, the couple miraculously conceived their second child naturally.

In 2009, the pair welcomed another daughter, Giselle Charlotte Overton. While they have gone through many trials in their relationship, they have always supported one another completely.

And despite admitting that they are chalk and cheese when it comes to everything from fashion to their personalities, they make a perfect team.

“Opposites attract,” Peter said in the podcast. “If they ever want to do a global case study I think it’s you and I, but we are very, very happy.”

Jess added, “We are so very different but what is so special about our relationship is we’re a team and we do bring the best out in each other, and I do feel very blessed to have him.”