Triple j star Bryce Mills quits after mental health break

One of triple j’s breakfast hosts stunned listeners this morning, announcing they’ll leave the program at the end of the week.

Triple j breakfast host Bryce Mills has announced he is leaving the show at the end of this week.

Mills joined the breakfast show in 2021 and co-hosted the program with Ebony Boadu before she was replaced by current co-host, Concetta Caristo.

On air this morning, Mills explained that hosting the breakfast show was his dream job, but said he was burnt out by the demands of the gig.

“I think I’ve probably averaged five hours (of sleep) a night in three and a half years,” he said.

Mills went into more detail about his decision to leave in a 17-minute YouTube video posted online this morning, in which he revealed that he had struggled with mental health issues and had contemplated taking his life earlier this year.

“I was pretty sure something was pretty bad at that point, and I was still trying to find the right balance with things like medication,” Mills said about the difficult period in the YouTube video.

He said he spoke to his bosses at triple j about his struggles and they allowed him to take four weeks off air earlier this year so that he could work on his mental health.

Mills described the break as “life-changing”.

“That first day I came back (on air), there was a text from someone that said, ‘if you two (Bryce and Concetta) died today, I’d piss myself laughing,’ and I guess I knew the break worked because that didn’t really rattle me,” Mills said.

“I want anyone watching this to know, you might feel like everything is on fire right now, but I promise you, when you take a bit of distance, when you open up and be vulnerable about these things, you just don’t know what’s going to be around the corner.”

Bryce Mills with his original breakfast co-host, Ebony Boadu.

Mills to stay with triple j

While Mills is leaving the breakfast show, he’s not leaving the station.

He also announced today that he’ll be co-hosting triple j lunch with Dave Woodhead, starting in a few weeks time.

“I didn’t expect them (triple j) to offer that, so it’s cool that I get to still be here and do that,” he said on air this morning about the new gig.

New breakfast co-host announced

In a press release, triple j today announced that Mills will be replaced on the breakfast show by Luka Muller, a comedian, writer, presenter and podcaster who has previously been hosting triple j weekend arvos.

Muller will start co-hosting the breakfast show alongside Concetta Caristo from July 1.

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