‘I get that from dad’: The special bond helping Erin Molan through grief

Erin Molan admits she is “overwhelmed by grief” after losing her father, as she copes with a demanding work schedule and life as a single mother.

Erin Molan has opened up about coping with the overwhelming grief of losing her father, Jim Molan, amid a demanding schedule.

The respected NSW senator died last month after a battle with cancer, and his high profile daughter returned to work this month, processing grief while juggling her commitments across breakfast radio, television and print, as well as being a single mother to daughter Eliza, four.

She flew into Brisbane on Wednesday to attend the local launch of the Best&Less Baby A/W Collection at Carindale.

“I won’t lie, it’s really hard. And there’s moments I’m just overwhelmed by grief,” Molan, 39, said.

Erin Molan at a baby fashion launch for Best&Less, Carindale Shopping Centre. Picture: Liam Kidston

“I’m thinking my column is due, and normally I’d ring dad and say, what about temporary protection visas this week … there’s all these moments where it feels like it punches you in the chest and you go, how am I even functioning?”

“And I don’t know what the right way to go about it is. I’m thinking about dad, I’m remembering dad, but then I’m also working, because you don’t have a choice, and when you’re a mum you actually really don’t. You just have to keep going.”

The Sky News host is seeking help from a psychologist to cope with grief and said she continued to be inspired by her father’s work ethic, which was a bond they shared.

“If you told me less than a month after dad’s death that I’d be doing all of this, I’d have said, you’re dreaming,” she said.

Erin Molan with her father, Jim Molan. Photo: Supplied

“But I’m also my dad’s daughter and the one thing in which he and I were very similar was the way we looked at work and loved work and were passionate about our jobs.

“I like to think I get that from dad. So if I was sitting at home now, under a doona crying, dad would kill me.”

The baby range collection was a passion project for Molan, who discovered a niche market for baby singlets that didn’t have to be put on over the child’s head, after she struggled to dress Eliza as a newborn.

Erin Molan pictured with Sibella Diaz, 10 months, who is wearing a singlet from Erin’s baby clothes range. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

The product has been embraced by parents with premature babies, enabling them to dress their vulnerable children without removing tubes or drips.

Having now partnered with Best and Less, Molan said it was gratifying to have a project that brought her joy.

“I look at everything else I do in TV, radio and print, and there’s an intensity to it,” she said.

“But this is a completely different space … and I derived so much joy from seeing all the photos of particularly sick bubs in hospital.”

“Just seeing cute bubbas in something that is mine and that I designed is really rewarding.”

Molan hopes to eventually get the range into hospitals and IVF clinics.

“It’s making sure it’s available to as many people as possible,” she said.