‘I don’t know if I want to wake up’: Footy Show’s brutal toll on Erin Molan
TV and radio presenter Erin Molan touches on the dark side of entertainment, and the impossible questions she asked herself at her ‘lowest points’
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With an agenda-setting media career and a business born out of her experience as a mum, Erin Molan is riding high. Here, the TV and radio presenter shows off new-season looks while talking to Stellar about her fight to change social media after harrowing experiences took her to a darker place than she ever imagined.
Erin Molan is happy to admit she’s no fashionista.
“I remember the first time going into the Channel Nine wardrobe department and being told my nails were horrendous and just being looked up and down.
“Or there was the time I wore a zebra muu-muu to a press conference and my boss told the team to never use the footage of me because I looked ridiculous,” she says with a laugh.
The irony of her fashion shoot with Stellar isn’t lost on the TV and radio personality, especially given that she’s now adding the title of “fashion designer” to her long list of accomplishments, which includes breakfast host on 2DayFM and Sky News presenter.
“I’ve never been particularly stylish,” she admits. “I’m just lucky to be dressed by stylish people.”
Molan started her baby singlet range By Erin four years ago, after giving birth to daughter Eliza.
Unable to fit a newborn-sized singlet over the head of her daughter without tears, she asked a tailor to fashion her own with velcro and studs. Now, that patented design is set to launch in Best & Less stores next month.
Her design career aside, the 39-year-old is continuing her fight to make the online world easier and safer for Australians, with her recent Sky News documentary Haters Online: Erin Molan Fights Back.
And she says that despite being harassed online, she isn’t turning her back on social media.
“There are so many elements of it that are incredible – that’s why I want to clean it up,” she tells Stellar.
“When I was with The Footy Show, at one of my lowest points I remember thinking, I actually don’t know if I want to wake up tomorrow – and that scares me even saying it because I never envisaged anything that could put me in that position.
“But fast forward to now, where the messages I get from the most incredible people on social media lift me up and inspire me.”
She also had her new boyfriend, Toby Selby, by her side when the documentary premiered.
“I’m extremely happy,” Molan says of their relationship.
“The last time I spoke to Stellar [in November 2021], I spoke about having to go
on dating sites and how that sounded nightmarish,” she says.
“So to meet someone basically in a car park and to immediately feel something so strongly, was something I’ve never experienced before.
“And I feel like I’m in the best position to be in a healthy and stable relationship. It’s a lovely feeling.”
If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit lifeline.org.au.
Originally published as ‘I don’t know if I want to wake up’: Footy Show’s brutal toll on Erin Molan
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