‘Enormously challenging’: Carrie Bickmore’s ex breaks silence on painful split

Chris Walker has spoken for the first time about the pain of his high-profile split from Carrie Bickmore, revealing that saying goodbye to his kids twice a week is the hardest part.

Carrie Bickmore’s ex-husband Chris Walker has broken his silence on the pain of his split from the award-winning television and radio star.

“We built a family together. It’s what I thought our life would be. But life had a different plan,” Walker said on broadcaster Luke Darcy’s Empowering Leaders podcast.

Bickmore, a syndicated radio show host and former The Project anchor, and Walker, a TV producer, split last January after 11 years together.

They have two children, Evie and Adelaide. Walker is also stepfather to Ollie, Bickmore’s son from a previous marriage.

Carrie Bickmore and Chris Walker were together for 11 years. Picture: Getty Images

Walker said the most painful part of the split is saying goodbye to his children.

“The media part of it wasn’t a big deal for me. It’s so far down the list of, you know, saying goodbye to the kids twice a week,” he said.

“I still find that just enormously challenging. I had always assumed I’d be around them a hundred per cent of the time.

“It’s the one thing in life that I’m happy to be super confident borderline hubristic about … I’m a really good dad,” Walker said.

Walker says he still finds it ‘enormously challenging’ to be away from his children. Picture: Instagram

“I would never say I’m a gun producer. But when it comes to being a dad, I was born for it.

“I love it and I wanna be around them all the time. I find that really difficult.”

Walker’s TV producer credits include Hard Quiz and The Weekly with Charlie Pickering.

“I’ve been adjacent to famous people for my entire career, or high profile people, and obviously I lived with one. But it’s different when it’s about you,” he said.

“I’ve got some incredible friends that have helped me through the rougher times in my life. But the thing is, grief can last a long time.

“It’s difficult for the kids, difficult for the families.”

Walker also credited Aleda Connect, a leadership program co-founded by Darcy, for helping him through a tough period.

The program curates groups of six leaders from around the world to collaborate, learn and share.

Darcy’s podcast with Walker goes live on Wednesday.