Scott Morrison on 60 Minutes: Jenny Morrison reacts to ‘psycho’ texts

Jenny Morrison has described how she felt the moment she heard her husband being confronted with accusations he’s a “complete psycho”.

Jenny Morrison said she felt “sick to her stomach” when her husband, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, was asked about a leaked text message which labelled him a “complete psycho”.

Ms Morrison shared her reaction in a promotional clip for tonight’s 60 Minutes special, which interviews the Morrison clan at home in Kirribilli House in an attempt to soften the PM’s image in the run-up to the federal election.

“When I heard that question, I actually felt sick to my stomach,” Ms Morrison said. “I felt sick to my stomach because they were talking about someone that I really care about.

“And I just thought it was such a poor question with such bad intent, that those people just have no idea how it would affect my family.

“I have grown daughters that are going to high school.”

When quizzed by interviewer Karl Stefanovic how she explained the incident to their children, Ms Morrison replied, “They know their dad, they know their dad better than anyone else.”

Mr Morrison was confronted at the National Press Club with a text message exchange between former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who called him a “horrible, horrible person” and an unnamed federal cabinet minister, who called him a “complete psycho”.

Days later, a text message from Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was made public which saw Mr Joyce deride Mr Morrison as a “hypocrite” and a “liar”. Mr Joyce later attempted to walk back those characterisations.

Jenny Morrison will address the leaked ‘complete psycho’ text messages. Picture: 60 Minutes/YouTube

Other promotional clips from the 60 Minutes special have featured Mr Morrison playing the ukulele, which saw him immediately roasted online with commentators linking the Hawaiian musical instrument to his ill-fated trip to the archipelago during the deadly 2019/2020 bushfires which besieged the nation.

After asking the couple what they might find time to do if they lose the next election, Stefanovic then adds, “You could go to Hawaii!”.

“She does address Hawaii in a fairly significant way,’’ Stefanovic earlier told news.com.au.

Ms Morrison will reveal that the backlash wounded her deeply.

“It caused them enormous pain to have been away from Australia. And I think the decisions that led to that, you know, will be addressed. I think for whatever reason, that they didn’t quite understand initially why, why it was the wrong decision. But they soon learned why,’’ Stefanovic said.

“Also, Jenny also makes a killer Margarita, which is kind of strange with the whole Hawaii thing. But that’s the vaudeville aspect of the story that I absolutely love.”

Scott Morrison was on holidays in Hawaii as Australia suffered through the deadly Black Summer bushfires.

The couple sat down with Channel 9 for the major interview as the Prime Minister fights for his political life ahead of the 2022 election.

Mr Morrison’s 60 Minutes feature is expected to touch on some of the more contentious moments in his run as Prime Minister, as the country awaits the official date of the 2022 Federal Election.

The interview with Stefanovic will cover his Hawaii trip, his highly-criticised comments that “as a father” he could emphasise with rape victim Brittany Higgins, and the strain of Mr Morrison’s political career on his family, with his wife Jenny sharing insight into their relationship.

“There was a time where I couldn’t help, you know, feeling resentful that I was doing it alone,” she says in the clip.

“It was something that we had both wanted and then it was only me experiencing it.

“But time is a great leveller. And as it went along, I learned to cope better and accepted it and that way the resentment could go, because that wasn’t good for our relationship.”

Mr Morrison will hope the interview will undo a recent run of bad weeks during which he suffered a series of damaging leaks from his own side. Additionally, the latest opinion polling has the Coalition to lose the upcoming election, and his Religious Discrimination Bill was shelved.

60 Minutes will be broadcast on Sunday at 8.40pm