It’s the eve of Australian journalist, author, television host and self-dubbed Crap Housewife, Jessica Rowe’s final appearance as host on morning programme Studio 10 and the bubbly blonde is reflecting on her five-year stint on the panel.
“I’ve changed as a person since I started on the show,” the 47-year-old tells Now to Love. “I’ve become far more confident. Studio 10 really helped me find my voice again and I’ll never forget that.”
Jessica has been a host on the show since it debuted in 2013, and while says she’s excited for what comes next, she’s not quite sure how she’ll feel on her last day.
“I don’t know how I’ll feel. It’s been a really big decision for me to make, but I know that its right but it’s right for me and my family,” she says.
One thing she does know, she’s eager to spend more time with her daughters Giselle, 8, and Allegra, 11, as well as her journalist husband Peter Overton, who will all be joining her on the show to celebrate her final episode.
“I cannot wait to spend more time with my daughter’s especially in the mornings, getting them off to school,” says Jessica. “They want me to do tuck shop! I don’t know what the sandwiches will be like.”
“I don’t have a clean house, but I’m doing OK.”
“I want to spend my time wisely. But, I’m sure my husband would like me to fold a bit more washing,” jokes Jessica, who is very vocal about her disinterest in household duties.
Jessica admits she isn’t much of a cook. In fact, she isn’t one for household duties at all.
“I’ve always been messy,” she admits. “I appreciate some people like to be organised and ordered and that’s a way of them staying calm. But I can live very happily in mess it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t bother me, I don’t see it. I would rather be chatting with my daughters or reading a book as opposed to folding washing.”
Jessica admits her husband of 14 years, Peter, who she endearingly calls Petey, while he dubs her Pussycat, is the organised one.
“He will often joke that he’s my PA, because I’m not good at the detail,” says Jessica whose failed attempts at cooking dinner and house duties have transpired into a movement of women online who proudly call themselves Crap Housewives.
Crap Housewife started when Jessica learned some women on social media were sharing photos of their kids’ school lunches.
“I went ‘you are joking! That’s fine and if you want to do little pirate sandwiches and all sorts of things for your kids, good on you’. But I thought, ‘this is crazy’,” says Jessica who felt inspired to share a photo of her failed meals alongside the hashtag #craphousewife and so started the social media phenomenon.
“It’s by no means wanting to have a go at women who want to do that or love all that stuff,” she says.”But it’s more my way of saying it’s OK to be crap at something. To just give you permission to say ‘I don’t have a clean house, but I’m doing OK, I’ve got happy kids and I’m walking out the front door’.”
So now that she’s freeing up her mornings, perhaps the mum-of-two might find some time to fine-tune her laundry and cooking skills?
“No!” she laughs. “I think my husband is hoping! He cheekily said to me, ‘Oh Pussycat, that’ll mean you’ll have more time for cleaning’ and I was like, ‘No, I don’t think so!'”
Jessica says there is no one secret to having a successful marriage, but says “For [Peter and I], what is at the core of who we are is that we both have the same moral compass.”
“There wont be change unless blokes are on board as well.”
Jessica has used her position on the morning show to share her views and snippets of her life.
While Jessica is looking forward to more family time, she says there is a part of her that’s sad about departing Studio 10: “I’m going to miss the wonderful people I work with who are more than just colleagues they’ve become dear, special friends.”
Perhaps another aspect of the job she’ll miss is the opportunity to voice her opinions, something she’s grown to relish in her time on the panel show.
“[The producers] supported our point of view and wanted us to bring that to the program so that’s been a real privilege to do that and to be a part of that,” she says.
Recently Jessica used her position on the show to passionately defend her friend Georgie Gardner after news broke of an allegedly nasty conversation recorded in an Uber between her co-host Karl Stefanovic and his brother. At the time Jessica exclaimed, “I’m sick of blokes saying negative things about women!”.
When asked about the role men play in the fight for gender equality the proud feminist told Now to Love, “We have to do it together. There wont be change unless blokes are on board as well.”
So what’s next for the prolific journalist?
“I’m doing a podcast with Denise Drysdale, that we’ve called One Fat Lady and One Thin Lady,” she says.
Jessica explains the podcast will cover the big and little things in life including, family, career, how to keep a clean house, cats, panko breadcrumbs as well as sex, which she says Denise doesn’t like to talk about.
“And it’s something that we both feel women of all ages will enjoy listening to,” she adds.
Fans of the Crap Housewife can also look forward to the possibility of a Crap Houswife book.
“I don’t know what that would be, some crappy recipes, I don’t know? But I’d love to do that!” she enthuses.
But in the meantime, Jessica will continue public speaking in support of the many causes she represents, as well as sending her girls off to school of a morning, sans pirate-shaped sandwiches.
