‘Scared’: 9News star Peter Overton on brutal health battle

Peter Overton has bravely opened up about the health battle that forced him to disappear from TV screens.

9News star Peter Overton has opened up about his shocking health scare that left him unable to talk for a week.

Overton had disappeared from TV screens in order to undergo surgery on his vocal cords.

In a new interview, he revealed that doctors had found a polyp that urgently needed to be removed in surgery.

“I took six weeks annual leave, and then my voice suddenly said, I’m on annual leave as well. I got very husky and raspy over the holidays, and went to the GP. He sent me to an ENT (ear, nose and throat) surgeon, and suddenly the holiday turned into an operation in a Sydney hospital,” said the 9News star.

Peter Overton has opened up about his brutal health scare that saw him disappear from screens. Picture: Instagram.

“I had a polyp, quite a large polyp on one of my vocal cords. They stick a camera up your nose and then down into your vocal cord, and then on a big screen, you see your vocal cords. And I saw this. It was like a big blister, a lump just hanging off the cord.

Overton revealed that the whole ordeal had left him panicked for his wellbeing.

“And I must admit, it scared the living daylights out of me. So I was operated on three days later... and they lasered it off. Then I was in hospital for a day, and then home, and then no talking for over a week.

“It was interesting being mute. If I went to get the milk, I’d write an email to myself and it would say I’d have to show it to someone!”

The TV star went on to share that he’s been working with a speech pathologist to get his voice back to what it was before his operation.

News of Overton’s health scare first emerged earlier this month.

Jessica Rowe, Overton’s wife, took to social media to reveal her husband was on extended leave.

Newsreader Peter Overton was off work recovering from surgery following the discovery of a lump on his vocal cords. Picture: Instagram

“As you know Pete doesn’t do Insta – and he wanted me to share some news with you. He’s off work for a little longer at the moment after an ENT surgeon discovered a polyp on one of his vocal cords which explains his very raspy voice over the holidays,” Rowe said, adding there would be “no talk for now”.

It’s not the newsreader’s first health scare. In November 2020, he was operated on to have a melanoma in the hairline of his right temple removed.

An image broadcast by Nine later showed a sizeable triangular incision stretching from Overton’s mid temple to the middle of his right ear.

Within 12 months of the first melanoma diagnosis Overton was back on the table in 2021 after three more skin cancers were detected on his back.

Originally published as ‘Scared’: 9News star Peter Overton on brutal health battle