‘He’s able to talk again!’ Jessica Rowe gives emotional update on husband Peter Overton’s health battle

As she reveals the latest on her husband Peter Overton’s health condition, Jessica Rowe opens up about being conned by someone posing as US comedian Chelsea Handler.

The passing of time has made former TV presenter turned podcast host Jessica Rowe a better listener.

“That’s what the podcast has taught me,” she tells Stellar of the candid celebrity chats she conducts on The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show. “It’s not a platform for me. It’s about the other person and giving them a space to talk about their story.”

Making the show, coupled with the confidence that comes with more than 29 years in journalism, has brought a fresh sense of perspective, too.

“The older I get,” the 54-year-old says, “the less I care what people think. That means I also share my vulnerability.”

One moment that left Rowe particularly exposed was when she received what she thought was an invitation from US comedian and TV host Chelsea Handler for an interview.

Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

“It all looked really legit: the email address they used, the artwork at the bottom of the email – all of these things,” she says. After locking down their chat, though, Rowe was asked to hand over access to her computer. That’s when her youngest daughter Giselle, now 15, stepped in.

“I was telling Giselle how excited I was,” she recalls. “And she went, ‘Mum, what do you mean they want to go in and change your settings?’”

After some investigating, a deflated Rowe discovered she’d been tricked by a common ploy scammers use to access social media accounts.

She wasn’t the only one in her family to be targeted. A con artist posing as a sick friend asked her mother Penelope, 78, to purchase gift cards for her.

“And that particular friend calls her Pen,” Rowe adds. “Not a lot of people would be aware of that. So because the first text message was addressed in that way, Mum was none the wiser, and thought, OK, of course I will.

Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

“The text messaging continued until the friend said they needed $500 [worth]. Mum was like, what? Alarm bells.

“Because Mum’s friend knows Mum doesn’t have $500 on hand, and she wouldn’t ask that. Then they got increasingly blunt. And Mum was like, ‘Oh, no. This is a concern.’”

Their experiences made Rowe and her mother a natural fit for Commonwealth Bank’s new “Talk To A Loved One” campaign.

Jessica Rowe has revealed she was scammed by someone pretending to be US comedian, Chelsea Handler. Picture: AFP

With recent research revealing that nearly three-quarters of Australians say they or someone they know has been scammed, the initiative encourages families to have open conversations to help protect against financial loss and distress. “It’s appalling,” Rowe says.

“As you get older, you’ve got incredible life experience, but when you think, oh my God, I’ve been sucked in by this, there can be a sense of shame and stigma, so you don’t want to

tell anyone. It’s more important than ever that we have these intergenerational conversations.”

As well as providing their IT skills, Rowe’s two daughters have also become a source of creative direction.

‘He’s back at work, and able to talk again.’ Peter Overton and Jessica Rowe. Picture: Jonathan Ng

At Giselle’s insistence, Rowe opened an online shop on her Crap Housewife website, selling merchandise such as sparkly cups and T-shirts with the slogan Up Yours Menopause.

“Giselle is very much an entrepreneur, so she’s set it all up for me,” Rowe says with a laugh. “I told her, ‘You go for it.’ I’m not good at organising, but she is.”

As for her eldest, Allegra, 18, Rowe takes pride in the budding model’s career. Last May, a month before she joined Stellar for a fashion shoot, Allegra made her Australian Fashion Week debut. “I bawled my eyes out,” Rowe says of sitting in the audience.

Family values! Jessica Rowe and Peter Overton’s daughters Giselle Overton and Allegra Overton. Picture: Getty Images

“But luckily I was tucked away in the second row, so she couldn’t see me. I was determined not to distract her.”

6 In January, Rowe revealed that her husband of 21 years, well-known newsreader

Peter Overton, had undergone surgery to remove a polyp from his vocal cords, which took him off air for several weeks. Resting his voice as instructed, she points out, proved a challenge.

“Petey, like me, loves to talk,” she says, adding that “he’s got a wonderful voice therapist helping him to make sure he’s using his voice properly and not putting too much stress on it.

“When you lose something that’s so at the essence of who you are and what you do … oh my goodness.

“But he’s back at work, and able to talk again, so he doesn’t just have to clap his hands at me loudly.”

Thanks to a wardrobe that’s filled with an exuberant mix of colours, patterns, textures and accessories that match her outgoing personality, Rowe says people often approach her in public to ask where she’s off to.

And they’re often stunned when she replies as she heads into a supermarket, “The same place as you!”

As she reasons, “You can never be too overdressed or too much. Find the thing that brings you joy, and tap into that.”

See the full shoot with Jessica Rowe inside Stellar tomorrow – via The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (VIC), The Sunday Mail (QLD) and Sunday Mail (SA).

For more from Stellar and the podcast, Something To Talk About, click here.

Originally published as ‘He’s able to talk again!’ Jessica Rowe gives emotional update on husband Peter Overton’s health battle