Rose Jacobs, wife of Today presenter Steve Jacobs, has revealed why the family-of-four decided to leave behind their comfortable and well-established life in Sydney for a second chance in Vanuatu.
In an article written for Kidspot, the media personality explained that, despite appearances, their life on home soil was “toxic” and full of “misery.”
“Exactly one year ago I knew my life was spiralling in a direction I didn’t want it to go in and I was struggling to get through a day without yelling at the kids and completely losing my cool. I was living by all appearances a fantastic life full of enviable traits…but my gut told me things still weren’t entirely right,” she wrote.
“Then there was the fact that I found myself screaming at my children and husband daily… which for me is well out of character since I don’t believe in inflammatory conflict.”
Rose says she needed to seek professional help to cope with the lifestyle she and her husband had built.
“I consulted a few medical experts and almost convinced myself that popping some pills would solve it… But in the end, I listened to something really raw inside. I knew it wasn’t me. I knew it wasn’t my kids or my husband. It was our environment,” she penned.
Another reason the couple decided to make the dramatic move came down to the happiness of their eldest daughter who was being bullied in daycare.
“My eldest daughter, then aged four was being bullied in day care. And I don’t mean the usual four-year-old banter. The teachers drew our attention to it and explained that they were taking it seriously and over six months, they managed to resolve the issues with the bully at hand,” she wrote.
“But it made me sick to my stomach.”
She adds that their two daughters had become fixated on technology, sugar and staying inside — a life which she and Stevie found worrying.
“Our kids were obsessed with ipads, sugar, any type of ‘Frozen’ paraphernalia and on a weekend when the sun was shining and some of the most beautiful beaches in the world were right there at the end of our street and they begged to just stay home and watch TV, we made the decision,” she writes in the lengthy article.
The weather presenter says it wasn’t a “flip of the coin choice” to up and move but with careful planning the family soon found themselves packing their bags.
She explains that her husband was able to renegotiate a suitable work schedule to allow for the three-hour commute back to Sydney and the children were enrolled in Vanuatu’s International school, which she says has “blown” them away with their high standards.
And despite a few hiccups — dengue fever, an absence of fresh milk and the sometimes “isolating” nature of island life among them — the family have since found their groove.
“I can tell you, hand on my heart that there hasn’t been a nano-second of regret,” she wrote.
“The greatest danger my kids face now are coconuts falling on their heads. My husband is seeing the old me that he first fell in love with. I’ve got chooks, a veggie garden, a hammock and my sanity back!”
She added: “I’ve never felt more content.”
