Nova radio host Tim Blackwell opens up about marriage split in candid Missy Higgins interview

Nova host Tim Blackwell opened up about his marriage breakdown for the first time in a candid chat with Missy Higgins.

Nova radio presenter Tim Blackwell has opened up for the first time about splitting from his wife of 14 years, admitting it had left him feeling like he’d “failed.”

The Ricki-Lee, Tim & Joel drive show co-host, 43 - whose separation from wife Monique was announced last December - made the rare remarks about his personal life while discussing co-parenting with Missy Higgins in the latest episode of his podcast.

Inspired by her own marriage breakdown in late 2021, one of the tracks on Higgins’ latest album, The Second Act, is all about the emotions she felt while adjusting to sharing custody of her two children.

Blackwell, who shares three children with his ex, admitted to the singer on Introducing With Tim Blackwell that he wished he’d had the album “a year earlier”, so he could have listened to it “when [the split] happened.”

“You think you failed.... I clearly failed at the marriage, tick, but then you think you failed as a parent,” he told Higgins, who agreed it was the “worst part” of the marriage ending.

“But if you talk back to yourself as a therapist would, you’d say, ‘well, kids can grow up very happy and secure with a single parent, and ultimately you want that kid to grow up feeling loved, and they can do that with parents living in different households,” she pointed out.

Tim and Monique Blackwell split last year. Picture: Instagram

Missy Higgins and ex-husband Dan Lee. Picture: Julie Kiriacoudis

Blackwell added that he was still “in” the relationship with his ex-partner, but it had simply transformed.

“You realise I’m still in it, like you are. And especially as co-parents, we’re still in the relationship. It just looks different. I think we’re working harder on the relationship we don’t have anymore,” he explained, telling the singer that one of the lyrics from a song on her album about co-parenting, called A Complicated Truth, had hit him hard.

“It’s the line about ‘the empty rooms’ because when obviously they spend time with the other parent... That’s the one that got me, even again this morning, when I was listening to it.

“You walk past the empty rooms and you’re hoping he’s tucked you in OK.”

Blackwell has remained quiet about the breakdown of his marriage over the past 10 months, following the initial announcement which was posted by his ex-wife, Monique.

“Not all good things end, but this has,” she wrote in a caption alongside two pictures of herself and the radio host last year.

“Thank you in advance for your messages of love, support and sadness at the news that Tim & I are no longer together.

“Our babes are forever supported by Tim’s and my love for them. And our friendship together is a source of strength for our family always, as we raise our children as best friends.”

The former couple share three children. Picture: Instagram

The estranged couple are parents to three children: Bo, 10, Alfie, seven, and Artie, four.

Blackwell had opened up about the day he met his future wife in an interview with Stellar back in 2018, revealing it happened to coincide with the biggest day of his career.

The popular radio host explained it happened after he’d just moved to Perth in 2002 to launch Nova 93.7FM’s drive show.

“It’s the cheesiest radio-nerd story ever — one of the biggest days for my career and certainly the biggest day of my love-life,” Blackwell told the publication.

“I had all the big bosses in town, all the news media there. I was shaking and absolutely sh***ing myself but also exhilarated at the same time.

“Once all that was over, we went downstairs and had this huge launch party and Monique was a part of the promotions team at the time there. She came over and I got the courage to say, ‘I’m new to Perth and I’d love to take you out to coffee or something’.”

In an interview with 9Honey in 2018, Monique offered her perspective on their first meeting, admitting she’d thought he was “cute” after spotting him from inside a sound booth before the party.

“I saw him and I thought, ‘That guy’s really cute,’ but I couldn’t hear anything … I was like, ‘Mental note: I’ll ask who that is later,’” she told the site.

After dating for six years, the pair got engaged during a romantic trip to Greece and tied the knot in 2009.