‘My wife asked me to swap sides in bed’: David Campbell’s ‘deal-breaker’ marital bedroom dilemma

When David Campbell’s wife asked him to swap sides of their marital bed, it prompted a crisis for the Today Extra co-host, who hilariously admits he was ‘not ready for what was to come’.

David Campbell, far left, with Ryan Moloney and April Rose Pengilly, has opened up about losing his ‘side of the bed’. Picture: Josh Woning

Let’s be real for a second. Come on, we can turn down the lights and draw close to each other right now. I mean, we are just a bunch of cells at the end of the day, right? Underneath, we all have the same desires – primal needs that drive us. So let’s talk about bedroom stuff.

I didn’t stick the landing there, but something happened to me in my marital bed that I think you might relate to. It’s something a lot of relationship experts don’t want to discuss. From experience, though, let me tell you, it can be a deal-breaker.

A doomsday clock on coupledom … Tick. Tick.

In case you didn’t know, my wife recently broke her wrist while running.

She recovered but for a while had a cast on her arm, and this turned our bed into a war zone – not for her, for me. There is no easy way to sugar-coat this: she asked me to swap sides. She needed to be on my side of the bed, the side nearest to the door, so she could sleep while her injury heals. Hey, I’m a supportive guy. I wanted her to heal and be supported by me so she could bounce back as quickly as possible. But I was not ready for what was to come.

‘I’m a creature of habit!’ David Campbell and his wife, Lisa. Picture: Instagram

We have been together for 17 years. Seventeen glorious, sleep-filled and mainly (except for babies) rested years. I have always slept left. So much so that, out of respect to her – and habit – I just don’t veer to the right side of a bed. If she is away for work, I keep to my side, though I do believe our dog claims it as her own – and who am I to argue?

If I’m away for work in a hotel, I still stick to my side.

I’m a creature of habit. My wife was in such discomfort she would not have noticed the beads of sweat forming when she suggested this profound shift in the sheets. So I gallantly ventured to the side not snoozed. For her. For us. She slept so well. It really did help, and now she was well on her way to healing, like Hugh Jackman in Wolverine.

I, however, felt existential dread grip me as I gripped the duvet. Where am I? Where do I put my legs? Will I ever fall asleep again?

We laughed it off the next day, though I have to be honest with you, the other side is odd. Sometimes I would doze off and need to get up and get some water in the night, try to climb out over my old side, then have to wake up and correct myself. It was like being jet-lagged and not knowing which country I was in.

Weeks passed. Sometimes I would lie awake and watch her cast while she was sleeping, trying to will her wrist better.

My rested bedfellow finally got her arm back and she whispered to me the words I had longed to hear. “Do you want to swap back?” As tears filled my eyes I smiled a reassuring grin and said, “If that’s what you want, honey.” I then ran upstairs and had a celebration nap on my side. The good side. The right side. The side where I belong.

David Campbell co-hosts Today Extra, 9am weekdays, on the Nine Network.

For more exclusive interviews from Stellar, listen to the podcast, Something To Talk About, below – or wherever you get your podcasts.

Originally published as ‘My wife asked me to swap sides in bed’: David Campbell’s ‘deal-breaker’ marital bedroom dilemma