Joe Hildebrand opens up about the family tragedy that shattered his childhood

JOE Hildebrand says he found it "difficult" to write about the disappearance of his nine-year-old brother who mysteriously vanished in 1987, sparking the largest manhunt in Victorian history.

Studio 10 team Jessica Rowe, Ita Buttrose, Joe Hildebrand and Sarah Harris. Picture: Network Ten

TELEVISION and radio presenter Joe Hildebrand has spoken about the difficulty he experienced writing about the disappearance of his autistic nine-year-old brother Paddy in his new memoir.

The 37-year-old told The Women's Weekly he had waited a long time to speak about losing his sibling, who vanished while the pair bushwalked with his mother and cousins in Victoria's Wilson's Promontory in 1987.

"It was difficult to write," Hildebrand told the mag, "but I had been waiting a long time to write it. I also knew it would be the most important thing I'd ever write."

The affable journo who is a host on Ten's morning show Studio 10 wrote in his memoir An Average Joe, that Paddy's disappearance sparked the largest manhunt in the State's history.

Despite widespread media coverage and an extensive investigation, all the searchers ever found was the little boy's yellow, plastic rain hat.

"Paddy loved nothing more than bushwalking," Hildebrand wrote in the book which hit shelves in December. "The forest ahead was calming and the way ahead was clear. And so we strolled lazily along the path, a couple of kids straggling behind and Paddy a few short metres ahead. Then he rounded a bend and we never saw him again.

Studio 10 team Jessica Rowe, Ita Buttrose, Joe Hildebrand and Sarah Harris. Picture: Network Ten

"In a single tick of the clock, we were all broken. Our whole lives became instantly forlorn."

Hildebrand also spoke of how he was left "crying uncontrollably" when his father casually explained he was leaving the family while playing a game of Lego.

His mother told the Weekly: "It was a surgical cut for Joe and consequently has barely spoken to his father in the 30 years since."

Hildebrand also spoke about his tough upbringing, how he never wore a new item of clothing, had a haircut at a hairdressers and how simple routines such as a daily shower were never taught.

The Daily Telegraph columnist is now married to fellow journalist Tara Ravens and has a three month old son, Henry.

An Average Joe: my horribly abnormal life, published by Harper Collins, is out now.