‘Part of me died’: Derryn Hinch makes candid confession over failed re-election

Media legend Derryn Hinch has revealed “part of me died” and that he questioned the point of living after his career as a federal politician came to an early end.

Derryn Hinch has revealed he ‘never really recovered’ from missing out on re-election in 2019. Picture: Jason Edwards

Media legend Derryn Hinch has candidly revealed “part of me died” when failed to be re-elected to the Senate bringing his career as a federal politician to an early end.

Hinch was a senator for Victoria from 2016 to 2019. His bid for re-election in 2019 was unsuccessful and left him nursing a deep feeling of loss.

Derryn Hinch says his time in the Senate was a ‘great privilege and a great honour’. Picture: Gary Ramage

“I will be honest with you when I did not get re-elected, I had been elected for six years but only got three because of a deal done by Labour and the Liberals, part of me died,” Hinch said.

“I thought ‘what is the point of living?’ — that is quite genuine.

“I never really recovered from it. It meant so much to me.

“Only 700 people have been elected to the Senate. That is about the same number that have worn the baggy green for Australia, so it is pretty special and it was a great privilege and a great honour and I worked my tail off while I was in Canberra.”

Hinch first made the comments on Sam Newman’s You Cannot Be Serious podcast and confirmed the depth of his sentiments when contacted by the Sunday Herald Sun.

“I was not depressed, I just felt part of me did not exist anymore,” he said.

Derryn Hinch is writing an update to his 2010 book. Picture: Supplied

Hinch, who describes himself as a “semi-retired writer”, is working on an update to his 2010 book Human Headlines: My 50 Years In The Media.

There is quite a lot to update.

“I have written 20,000 new words for it,” he said.

“Since that book was first published I have been to jail, I have had a liver transplant and I have been a senator. It is not a bad 15 years, is it?”