Cass Thorburn ready to step into the spotlight

Tired of being portrayed as the bitter ex-wife, Cass Thorburn is ready to show Australia who she really is — and she’s taken on a very public role to make that happen.

Karl Stefanovic and wife Cass with children Ava (21 months) and River (10 weeks) in 2006.

Tired of being portrayed as the bitter ex-wife, Cass Thorburn says she is ready to show people who she really is.

Since her well-publicised divorce from Channel 9 kingpin Karl Stefanovic, Ms Thorburn has become a regular target for paparazzi and gossip.

And she says she is frustrated to find herself being unfairly cast in the role of angry divorcee simply because her ex-husband had remarried while she remained single.

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Cassandra Thorburn and Marco de Angelis will be dance partners on the new season of Dancing with the Stars on Channel 10. Picture: Richard Dobson

Ms Thorburn says no-one should rely on anyone else for their happiness. Picture: Richard Dobson

“That movie The First Wives Club has a lot to answer for,” she said yesterday.

“There is this perception that divorced women must be unhappy. Or that we are hard done by. But that’s simply not true. I am always being asked if I am dating anyone. But no one should rely on anyone else for their happiness.”

Cass Thorburn’s ex-husband Karl Stefanovic married Jasmine Yarbrough in Cabo last year.

While she laments the intrusion into her personal life and the impact it had on her three children, she says she doesn’t believe her new role on Dancing with the Stars opens her up to more scrutiny.

“If anything it will be the opposite,” she said.

“There’s obviously a public interest in who I am as a person so I saw this as an opportunity to be able to show people who I am on my own terms.

“And who doesn’t want to learn a new skill?”

She scoffed at the suggestion that Dancing would allow her to show the world how fabulous she could look.

“If I cared about any of that I would just dress up every day and go out to some of those silly events,” she said.

Karl Stefanovic with Cassandra Thorburn in 2011.

Close girlfriends and her mum will be in the studio audience cheering her on when the Channel 10 show premieres on Monday night.

The former ABC journalist will be taking the first step back into regular employment since having her children. She has also signed on to be a regular panellist on Studio 10.

“I didn’t just sit around on the couch watching Days of Our Lives,” she said of being a stay-at-home mother.

“I volunteered with different organisations. I worked at the school canteen and the uniform shop. I watched the news. Just because I wasn’t in my main career of journalism doesn’t mean I suddenly spent my time just talking baby talk.

“I don’t regret my decision. But the time is right for me to go back to work.”