Karl Stefanovic has opened up about seeing a psychiatrist who diagnosed him with post traumatic stress disorder at a low point in his personal and professional life.
The Today host says he can normally handle intense pressure but with his first marriage broken down and his job being threatened he knew he had to seek help.
Stefanovic was under constant scrutiny as the program lost viewers in the wake of his marriage break-up and the start of a new relationship which some critics seemed to think scandalous.
He had strong support from close friends, including casino mogul James Packer, but as the pressure kept growing he sought medical assistance in managing his mental health.
Stefanovic told Daily Mail Australia he was now worried many Australians were under so much stress due to coronavirus the country might face a suicide epidemic.
‘I think this could be the most important interview I’ve done,’ the 45-year-old said.
Today show host Karl Stefanovic has opened up about seeing a psychiatrist who diagnosed him with PTSD at a low point in his private and professional life. He is pictured (far right) with James Packer (second from right) who still checks on his welfare with a text every week
Karl Stefanovic describes his friend James Packer as a ‘beautiful soul’. ‘I’ve known James for a lot of years and I was really proud of him when he came out and he talked about his battles,’ Stefanovic says. ‘Our battles aren’t the same battles but I greatly admire him for doing that’
The Today show host says he has learnt the triggers for his mental health issues and how to release pressure when it built up. He is doing well and enjoying life with wife Jasmine (both pictured)
‘Because I’m very concerned. My biggest concern right now is inside families and it’s people on their own and it’s the elderly who aren’t able talk to anyone.
‘This pressure mounts to a point where I think that we’re going to lose a lot of people unless we’re connected and we’re asking everyone if they’re OK.’
Two years ago Stefanovic took his own troubles to psychological and psychiatric experts and was eventually diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
With help he gradually learnt the triggers for his mental health issues and how to release pressure when it built up.
Stefanovic said he was now doing well and that Packer, who has been open about suffering three mental breakdowns, still provided him regular support.
‘There hasn’t been a week gone by in three and a half years that he hasn’t sent me a text message to see if I’m OK,’ he said.
‘I’ve known James for a lot of years and I was really proud of him when he came out and he talked about his battles.
‘Our battles aren’t the same battles but I greatly admire him for doing that.
‘I love him, he’s a beautiful soul. He’s clearly had his battles, he’s clearly been damaged but he’s also one of the most loyal people that I’ve ever met.’
Stefanovic said his own issues surfaced about two years ago when he was nearing the end of his first long stint hosting Channel Nine’s Today.
Billionaire James Packer has been frank about his mental health problems which have included depression, alcohol addiction and three breakdowns. He is pictured attending the Crown Resorts annual general meeting in Melbourne in 2017
Stefanovic was under constant scrutiny in 2017 and 2018 as Today lost viewers in the wake of his marriage break-up and the start of a new relationship with Jasmine Yarbrough (both pictured). The couple married in late 2018 and are now expecting their first child together
In 2016 he split from the mother of his three children and wife of 21 years, Cassandra Thorburn, and five months later started a relationship with shoe designer Jasmine Yarbrough.
Stefanovic, who has covered some of the biggest local and international news stories of the past two decades, said there was no single thing that made him seek professional help.
‘It was like maybe two years ago,’ he said. ‘There’d just been a build up of stories, there’d been a build up of pressures.
‘I couldn’t fathom why there were people taking photos of me all the time. For me, it was like why are you doing this? I haven’t done anything wrong.
‘When your family’s constantly being pursued and your name is constantly in the papers and online and in the magazines you feel like there’s just no escape.’
Stefanovic saw several mental health professionals before he was eventually diagnosed with PTSD.
‘I think people are now becoming skeptical of folks who come out and say they’ve had some level of mental illness,’ he said.
‘I’m able to cope with a great deal of pressure but pressure does build and if you don’t look after it, it can sort of catch you unawares.
Stefanovic says two years ago he sought help to cope with pressure brought about in part by intense media scrutiny. ‘I couldn’t fathom why there were people taking photos of me all the time,’ he says.’ For me, it was like, why are you doing this? I haven’t done anything wrong’
‘It can get big on you and you’ve got to constantly manage your pressures, your own personality, and if you don’t then you risk the dam breaking.
‘We check up on our bodies and make sure that we try to do the right thing by our bodies but quite often mentally we don’t.
‘There should be no stigma at all ever about going to see a professional. There should be no stigma about giving Lifeline a call.’
Stefanovic said it took him some time before he found the right individual he was comfortable to talk with about his mental condition. ‘This one guy, I really connected with,’ he said.
‘I think that’s another important thing, finding the right person. Go until you find the right person and connect with them.’
Stefanovic has been hosting a weekly spoof tonight show put together with friends as they all work remotely during the coronavirus crisis. He is pictured on his rooftop presenting the show
Stefanovic was directed to psychologists, who study emotions and behaviour, and psychiatrists, who as medical practitioners can diagnose and treat mental illness.
‘I saw both,’ he said. ‘And I think there should be no – I hope there’s no – shame in doing that.
‘You can’t understand everything about your own mind. You can’t understand why after so long, or after dealing with so many pressures, that you’re not able to cope on one particular day.
The billionaire and the breakfast TV host: How Karl Stefanovic and James Packer became best mates
James Packer is pictured with girlfriend Kylie Klim in St Tropez in 2018. The billionaire has hosted his television host friend Karl Stefanovic on his yacht over the years
Karl Stefanovic has been close to his former boss James Packer for more than a decade, since the days the billionaire owned Channel Nine.
In recent years Packer, 52, has been frank about his own mental health problems which have included depression, alcohol addiction and three breakdowns.
‘I’ve known James for a lot of years and I was really proud of him when he came out and he talked about his battles,’ Stefanovic said.
‘Our battles aren’t the same battles but I greatly admire him for doing that.
‘It’s an incredibly difficult thing for someone of his power to come out and admit to.
‘For me, as a friend, we don’t talk about business. We obviously have common interests and common friends.
‘I love him, he’s a beautiful soul. He’s clearly had his battles, he’s clearly been damaged but he’s also one of the most loyal people that I’ve ever met.
‘There hasn’t been a week gone by in three and a half years that he hasn’t sent me a text message to see if I’m OK.
‘That’s real friendship. People might go, ‘Oh well, you know, what’s that friendship about?”
‘But I’m telling you right now it’s just about loyalty and friendship and we have a great laugh together.’
Stefanovic attended Packer’s second wedding, to model Erica Baxter, on the French Riviera in 2007. Packer described him as ‘one of my best friends in the world’ in 2014.
When Stefanovic moved out of his marital home in 2016 after his split from wife Cassandra Thorburn he reportedly stayed at Paker’s beachfront Bondi apartment.
Stefanovic and his second wife Jasmine were photographed holidaying with the casino mogul aboard his luxury yacht Arctic P in Bora Bora in June 2017.
A year later they joined Packer and his girlfriend Kylie Lim on his boat in Sardinia, Italy.
With Packer dividing his time between Aspen and Los Angeles, where his now ex-wife Erica lives with the couple’s three children, Stefanovic has not seen his friend in a while.
‘He’s got huge things going on in his life but that says everything about him, I reckon, that every week he will send me a message saying, “Are you OK?” Stefanovic said.
‘I love him and I know that he’s getting better. He’s making huge inroads into recovery and to get back to where he was and I just think that’s to be admired.
‘To try as a man to make yourself better is a great thing and he’s doing that in spades. I look forward to catching up with him whenever I can.’
Stefanovic said his relationship with Packer was not all about monitoring each other’s mental health.
‘It’s nice to have one of your best mates who has a nice boat too,’ he said.
‘A couple of my Queensland mates have got dinghies and I love going out in a dinghy.
‘But nothing really compares with going out on his boat. I haven’t been out on it for years.
‘For whatever reason we became mates and it’s sort of developed over the years into a great friendship.’
‘But if you can have help unpacking things and then psychiatric help in making sure you recognise some of the symptoms of you reaching a point where you think, “Holy s***, where did that come from?” everyone’s going to be better off.’
Stefanovic did not wish to discuss the details of his PTSD diagnosis but said there was nothing special about his own circumstances.
‘I’m not going to go into some of the things that were triggers for me,’ he said.
‘I’m not for a second saying I’m a returned soldier from a war. I’m not saying that I’m any kind of martyr – that’s the last thing I’m saying.
James Packer suffered his third breakdown after a series of business disasters and his split from onetime fiancee Mariah Carey. The former couple is pictured in New York in 2016
‘There are people out there who have gone through a whole lot worse than me. I’m just a dude who’s gone through some things.
‘There are people who go through far worse and I don’t know how they do it.
‘But for me I know what I need to do now and that’s just part of my everyday existence.’
Stefanovic returned to the Today show in January and is expecting his first child with 36-year-old Jasmine next month.
‘I feel really good now but there’s some days when you have a big day and those around you and your loved ones need to be aware of it, like you are with them.
‘If something’s not right then go and get some help. It’s like going to the dentist, except less painful.
‘For whatever reason people like to keep whatever they’re feeling mentally private and that just goes against what’s healthy for you I think.’
Stefanovic says he sought professional help for mental health problems about two years ago. About that time he was hosting Today with Georgie Gardner (both pictured)
Stefanovic did not want to sound like he spent all this time monitoring his own mental health.
‘I also have fun,’ he said. ‘There’s a need to balance everything.
‘I still love having a few drinks on a Friday night, having a nice meal and relaxing and going to a great party.
‘That part of me hasn’t changed. There’s a need for balance.’
Stefanovic now wanted to use his public platform to encourage others to consider their own mental condition.
He said the stresses caused by coronavirus – the job losses, domestic disharmony and the lockdowns, were pushing some people to the brink.
‘I do desperately feel that we are going to lose people in this country in the next four weeks if we’re not on top of that issue,’ Stefanovic said.
He believed Australians were silently suffering during the COVID-19 epidemic and those at most risk needed to look after their mental health.
‘Obviously we’ve got to look after those who have coronavirus,’ he said.
‘But it’s those people who have lost a job, it’s those people who are at home and unable to cope because they’re on their own.
‘It’s the people with kids and they’re just not coping at home with the kids.
Stefanovic has warned people who are isolated in their homes during the coronavirus crisis could face mental health problems. Sunshine Coast single mother Carlene O’Loughlin (pictured) has lost her job due to the pandemic and will look to Centrelink for financial support
‘Those pressures inside build like an overflowing dam and at some point that dam breaks.
‘If you’re not on top of pressure, if you don’t release pressure as you go, then it overflows.
‘I think that people have got to reach out and people have got to be aware of what’s going on inside their own homes.
‘Because you don’t see it coming and I really, really worry about people in the next four weeks.’
Stefanovic said he could feel Australians getting ‘tetchy’ under the lockdowns.
‘I feel it when I see vision of people getting arrested at Bondi, I feel it when I see people attacking other people for racially motivated reasons,’ he said.
‘I see it when I see people gathering for an eight-year-old’s birthday in Melbourne [and the organiser was fined for breaching social distancing rules].
‘I just feel this country’s getting a little bit tetchy and unless we get control of that now there’s going to be some really big problems.
Stefanovic says Australians are getting ‘tetchy’ about coronavirus lockdowns. Bondi identity Dimitri Moskovich is pictured being arrested last weekend near the beach where he exercises for hours every day
‘I don’t want kids losing fathers or grandfathers, I don’t want to lose kids, I don’t want to lose mums.
‘I don’t want to lose aunties or uncles. it’s just a matter of getting through however we can over the next couple of months.’
Stefanovic said while Australia had drastically reduced the rate of coronavirus infection and kept deaths to a minimum there were more challenges to come.
‘We’ve got through this virus crisis so well,’ he said.
‘But the next four weeks are going to be the most testing in this country’s history in a long time.
‘The point is I’m a person who is able to withstand a lot of pressure and to me I didn’t see some of those pressure triggers building and coming.
‘I went and I got some help and that release – and everyone should not feel at all in any way, shape or form shame for that.
‘It should be part of everyone’s basic health.’
For confidential support call the 24-hour Lifeline crisis support on 13 11 14.