Why media personality Bec Judd stepped back to focus on family

Media personality and WAG Rebecca Judd has stepped back from work commitments to focus on her family, but it has hardly dulled the public’s ongoing fascination with every facet of it. Here, she reveals how she makes peace with the backlash.

There’s nothing like becoming a mother to make you reflect on your own upbringing. And with four young children at her feet, Rebecca Judd jokes that she’s sounding more and more like her own mother, Kerry, every day.

“It’s funny, I find myself saying stuff my mum used to say, even though I remember that annoying me so much as a kid. Like, when the kids say, ‘Where are my shoes?’ and I yell, ‘Where you left them last! If you just put them back where you got them, they wouldn’t be lost!’” Judd says, laughing. “When I was a kid, I thought my mum was a nag; now I know she was trying to organise a chaotic family and just do the best job.”

“I think you can have it all, but not all at once.” (Picture: Chadstone Imagery)

Motherhood is one of Judd’s favourite subjects to talk about and it’s one that she’s used as a base from which to catapult a number of professional ventures. While she was initially thrust into the spotlight as the partner of former West Coast Eagles and Carlton AFL player Chris Judd, the 38-year-old has created a niche for herself as an entrepreneur, presenter, fashion icon and author of parenting guide The Baby Bible.

As she tells Stellar, it was the 2011 arrival of her first-born, son Oscar, who’s now 9, that “gave me the confidence to try new things. Since becoming a mum, that’s when I felt my career took off and opportunities came knocking. I feel like it’s great for the new generation coming up – there are so many great women showing that being a mum doesn’t stop you from following your dreams and pursuing new ones.”

“I know that in 15 years, when I have an empty house, I’m going to miss the noise and mess.” (Picture: Chadstone Imagery)

That’s not to say it hasn’t been a big adjustment.

“When I came home after having Oscar, I felt like I didn’t belong – I felt like a stranger in my own house and it was like this mini identity crisis. I looked at my things, the things that before having this child had meant so much to me, and thought, what an idiot. I can’t believe those things were important. Who am I now?”

Melbourne-based Judd has continued to adjust with the arrival of each child, from daughter Billie, 7, to twin sons Tom and Darcy, 4. Which is why she made the decision last year to step back from her radio and television work (Judd was a presenter on KIIS FM’s show 3pm Pick Up, and host of the Nine Network travel show Postcards) to focus on family life and being at the school gate for pick-up.

“I think you can have it all, but not all at once. You have to be fluid and move with what’s important at the time,” she says.

“Our priorities have changed a lot this year, and there’s such a focus on family and being at home and less scheduling things in for the kids. The biggest learning of last year was that my children thrive from having me around and being able to be home and play with one another. So I’m focusing on that. Who knows what the future will hold? But I’m not rushing into anything right now.”

“When I was a kid, I thought my mum was a nag; now I know she was trying to just do the best job.”(Picture: Supplied)

Rebecca Judd and her husband Chris at the 2018 Brownlow Medal ceremony in Melbourne. (Picture: Supplied)

Stepping away from her media roles has hardly dimmed the voracious interest in Judd’s life and the clothes she wears. No stranger to making headlines, whether she intends to or not, she was criticised after she hit out at Victorian premier Daniel Andrews for the strict lockdown last year, and more recently for allegedly dumping pyjamas she was gifted by fellow Melbourne influencer Lorinska Merrington at a charity shop.

Judd is aware of the chatter, but insists that she’s learnt not to let it bother her.

“I feel like, since having a public profile when I was 20 when I started dating my husband, I’ve had this noise. It’s not going to go away, it’s going to continue,” she tells Stellar.

“So you live with it and move on. Things pop up all the time. It’s not the first time, it’s not going to be the last and you just roll with the punches and move on. I’m lucky that I’ve always had a level head with this sort of thing.”

In her role as ambassador for Chadstone shopping centre in Melbourne, Judd is fronting its Mother’s Day campaign, which celebrates the joy of motherhood while recognising a mother’s strength, support and unconditional love.

Rebecca Judd features in this Sunday’s Stellar.

The mother of four says she’s not taking for granted the fact that she can continue a tradition and go out for lunch with her friends this Mother’s Day.

“It’s the best,” she says of the day.

“It starts with the kids bringing me a coffee in bed and all watching TV. Then all my mum friends have lunch together – without our kids!”

And while wrangling four children may be chaotic, she refuses to wish the time away. “You have to get on with it. Just put one foot in front of the other. What’s the alternative – fall in a heap? No, I’m not going to do that. You get through it,” she says.

“Some days aren’t going to be perfect. There are going to be tears and you’re not going to be able to get anything done, then you have good days and that’s the season of your life. You’ve got to roll with it.

“Every day I feel like I’m yelling, ‘Clean up’ or ‘Stop yelling!’” she adds. “But I know that in 15 years, when I have an empty house, I’m going to miss the noise and mess, and look back on this time and go, ‘It was gone in the blink of an eye.’”