Annette Sharp: Rosie back in control after detox battle

A PERSONAL email penned by Rosie Jacobs, the recently estranged wife of Today show reporter Steve, has come to light, revealing the travel reporter’s struggle to detox her life after the couple were welcomed into a boozy expat community in Vanuatu.

Steve and Rosie Jacobs in happier times. Picture: Supplied

A personal email penned by Rosie Jacobs, the recently estranged wife of Today show reporter Steve, has come to light, revealing the travel reporter’s struggle to detox her life after the couple were welcomed into a boozy expat community in Vanuatu.

The vivacious mother-of-two, who separated from the former weather presenter of Channel 9’s Today show at Christmas, courageously wrote to her closest friends in 2017 — ahead of the couple’s split — asking for their support with her attempt to kick the alcohol.

A friend of the television personality confirmed the authenticity of the letter after it arrived in this columnist’s in-tray last week, leaked by an unknown pal.

“You’re reading this because you are the most deeply important people in my life,” the undated letter begins.

Rosie Jacobs with daughter Francesca and Isabella last year. Picture: Instagram

“I’ve sat down this morning to write to a handful of people who I love and trust. I want to share with you that I believe I have an addiction to alcohol and I have reached a stage where I recognise I need to do something about it.

“I know I am not alone in having a strong dependency on drinking — it is pretty damned standard practice actually. Especially among our friends here in Vanuatu, plenty of my fellow mums, anyone living in Sydney … let’s face it, most people we know are dependent on alcohol to varying degrees.

“But today I am putting my hand up and speaking up to say that I have reached a point where I believe alcohol has become a damaging element in my life and I am choosing to put a stop to it.”

The letter, with its intended recipient’s name deleted, continued: “This may sound dramatic and to be honest I do believe it will be quite hard to quit drinking entirely, but that is my ultimate goal. I have an ‘all or nothing’ personality — which can be a strength in many ways.”

According to Rosie’s friend, the letter, and Rosie’s private year-long battle, was never meant to be publicly disclosed.

The couple moved to Vanuatu in 2016. Picture: Richard Dobson

The television personality had written to friends living in her community in the hope of prevailing upon them to stop pressing a glass into her hand at social gatherings.

In 2016 the Jacobs announced they were quitting Australia for Vanuatu to escape their “toxic life” in Sydney, a comment that now suggests the relationship itself was already in trouble.

In interview, Rosie said the couple hoped to make a new life for themselves and their two young daughters, Isabella, aged six, and Francesca, four, on the South Pacific island far from Sydney’s “toxic” influences.

But Rose would soon find the ritual of enjoying “five o’clock” drinks with a thriving expat community based in Vanuatu created new problems for the 39-year-old fitness fanatic who suddenly found herself living in a remote location with plenty of time on her hands.

The couple’s life, as witnessed through the carefully stage-managed eye of social media, had long been a steady stream of glamorous parties and exotic trips — a cocktail or a glass of wine frequently at hand.

By Christmas, with the party season in full flight, the couple separated.

The breakup became the talk of Vila.

It would stir the rumour mill — among gossip, that Rosie had a new boyfriend, a Canadian ex commando, Dylan Nash.

Both Steve and Rosie plan to return to Sydney — separately — in the coming months. Picture: Instagram

On January 23, Rosie would obtain a restraining order against her 51-year-old husband.

Sources for Jacobs on Friday maintained the television reporter, who has worked part-time for Today since 2016, has never sighted the restraining order which has since expired.

They further claimed it was obtained after an angry Jacobs verbally insulted his estranged wife after discovering she was getting serious with Nash.

The estranged couple have in recent weeks turned to mediation in an attempt to improve their shattered relationship.

They now plan to return to Sydney — separately — in future months to raise their daughters, a source said. A reunion for the couple who married in Bali in 2010 is not foreseen.

The relationship between the perennially sunny weather presenters who met when the then Rose Kelly was working for The Weather Channel, looked, for a heady decade, idyllic.

“Feelingsoblessed” posted Rosie to Instagram in June 2017 disclosing to the world that her husband of seven years was in the habit of presenting her with flowers every week.

Jacobs, or “Stevie” as her husband chooses to be known to the Today show’s 375,000-strong national audience, was equally loved-up on his social media accounts.

A friend says Rose has “never felt better, healthier or happier”.

“My glorious girl shaking her thang in Bangalow. So many beautiful things to see but none as stunning as her,” Jacobs wrote admiringly three months later in September 2017.

The public declarations of love stretch back years on their social media accounts, the couple jointly and independently posting of their remarkable and glamorous travelogue lifestyle.

After initially giving up alcohol completely, Rosie is now drinking moderately and feels, say friends, she has taken control of her alcohol consumption — and her life — following a successful detox.

Along with a husband, Rose has also shed a significant amount of weight — 10kg a friend claimed last week — and has “never felt better, healthier or happier”.