Jessica Rowe: ‘I’m still bitter and twisted’

JESSICA Rowe still hasn’t heard from Eddie McGuire over the ‘boning’ saga, and she’s finding it hard to forgive him.

JESSICA Rowe says she’s the happiest she has ever been in her life, but hasn’t been able to forgive and forget the way she was treated during her brief stint at Channel Nine.

The Studio 10 host spoke to Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa this morning about the highly publicised contents of her memoir Is This My Beautiful Life?, in which she details the ugly “boning” saga with then network chief, Eddie McGuire.

“I am bitter and twisted, I don’t want to be and I’d love to forgive and forget but I do hold onto things,” the 45-year-old TV personality told the radio duo.

“I know that’s probably not wise or good for me long term, but there are some things that you can’t forget. Of course, I have moved on and to me, the best revenge is living well and by living well, I mean being happy.”News_Image_File: Jessica Rowe and former Nine CEO Eddie McGuire in 2006.

In 2005, Rowe was lured to Nine after signing a contract valued at an estimated $500,000 to co-host Today with Karl Stefanovic. But less than a year into the role, McGuire, who wanted to sack her, allegedly said: “What are we gonna do about Jessica? When should we bone her? I reckon it should be next week.”’

Rowe told Fitzy and Wippa that she still hasn’t heard from McGuire, but never expected to. “The thing is, I wish him well — he has got big career, big life, all of that — so I wish him well, but it was important to me to have my say and to put my side of the story out there.”

The Millionaire Hot Seat host, who is now Australia’s highest-paid broadcaster, denied ever using the term ‘boned’, despite his former colleague Mark Llewellyn signing an affidavit to say that he did.

News_Image_File: Karl Stefanovic with Jessica Rowe on Nine’s Today show, 2006.

The accomplished journalist and television presenter referred to her 12 months working at Nine as “a fairly tumultuous time” but said she doesn’t regret taking on the role. “I learnt a lot, I learnt about what matters, I learnt about who matters and also, I fell pregnant in the middle of that year. So for me, that is special anyway and because I was pregnant, that wonderful secret that I had to keep for a number of months before I could make the news public, that kept me going through a publicly very difficult time.”

Rowe is married to Nine news presenter Peter Overton and the couple has two daughters, Allegra and Giselle.

“Yes, there were some pretty awful things that happened that year but I don’t regret making that decision to join the Today Show at all.

“I’m at a point in my life where I’ve never been happier and I’m so thankful to have got to this point. I have my beautiful husband, my two divine girls, a job that I love and I feel very blessed. So I focus on that but I still am bitter and twisted about the past.”

News_Image_File: Is This My Beautiful Life?: A Memoir by Jessica Rowe.News_Image_File: Peter Overton and Jessica Rowe.