Karl gets candid on his marriage breakdown and ‘rectifying his failures as a dad’

AUSTRALIA’S favourite breakfast host endured a rough couple of months last year including a very public marriage split — but now he says he’s hoping to ‘rectify my failures’.

2016 was a year of ups and downs for Karl Stefanovic.

The breakfast show he co-hosts with Lisa Wilkinson, Today, finally hit numbers to rival their competitor Sunrise, however the TV presenter also had to go through an extremely public marriage breakdown.

In September last year the news broke that Stefanovic, who was married to fellow journalist Cassandra Thorburn for 21 years, had split and, speaking to the Herald Sun while in Melbourne, Karl admitted it hasn’t been an easy road since.

“For me personally I would definitely have failures in a husband sense and hope that I can rectify my failures as a dad,” Karl told the publication.

“I hope I can try and rebuild whatever has happened in the past and try and make the most of what I can do with them in the future.”

Stefanovic and his estranged wife Cassandra Thorburn in 2011.

Stefanovic and Thorburn have three kids together: Jackson, 16, Ava, 11, and River, 10.

While the split hasn’t been easy for the couple, Stefanovic admits it’s also been extremely hard on their children.

“For me the only issue was the burden of paparazzi around my family in the initial months. That is regrettable, that is hard to explain to a kid and I think it is awful for kids,” he said.

Co-host Lisa Wilkinson also blasted the tabloids for their treatment of the family while appearing on a podcast with Mamamia’s Mia Freedman.

“There’s a lot of rubbish out there at the moment, a lot of lies,” she told Freedman.

“Lies that are published without any regard to the fact that there’s human beings involved, that there are children involved,” Wilkinson added.

Wilkinson, who hosts Today with Stefanovic slammed tabloids for their treatment of the family.

Stefanovic had close to two months off over the summer period after the news of his split broke.

But, since returning to air the TV presenter seems to be looking at things as positively as he can.

“Life is life. People make mistakes. People have break ups. People mostly try to do their best and sometimes they fail,” he told The Herald Sun.

“I think that we will work through it as best we can.”

Originally published as Karl gets candid on his marriage breakdown and ‘rectifying his failures as a dad’