Following a trying two years, Karl revealed at Channel Nine's Gold Logie recovery brunch in July, that he struggled immensely after being dumped as the breakfast show's co-host.
"It’s been about six months since I was on the telly, and I needed to have a rest. Towards the end of last year, I was cooked,” he began. “It had taken its toll, a lot of the attention — all the unwarranted attention I thought, and you can’t control any of that, I’m not going to complain too much about that, but what it meant was that in a work capacity I don’t believe for a second I was at my best. I think I was struggling towards the end of last year.”
While his sensational exit came as a shock to thousands of Australian viewers, the Nine Network presenter said he knew the change was imminent and necessary.
“So it wasn’t a great surprise to me — in fact, it was a relief in many ways — that I was taken off the Today show. Because I just wasn’t at my best and you can’t be doing that show unless you’re at the top of your game,” he said. “You’ve got to be sharp, you’ve got to be witty, you’ve got to be funny. You’ve got to see the angles, and to be honest, at the end of last year I wasn’t seeing much.”
Since his lengthy television hiatus, Karl revealed his headspace has improved and his marriage has been more "wonderful" now they're able to "breathe without having too many paparazzi in the shower with us".
“It allowed me to rest and think about life in a much clearer way and to come back and go ‘OK, when I do come back, I’ve got to make sure I’m OK’ and I think for a while there, I wasn’t sure if I was, to be honest,” said Karl, who was married to Cassandra Thorburn before meeting Jasmine. "It has eased off, which was the whole point of everything (Today axing),” he continued.“ (I’m) just breathing. Taking life in."