WHO
Candid and straight-talking, Julia Morris doesn’t spare the gory details when it comes to her personal life. Whether it’s romantic humiliation, fertility woes or her hubby’s brush with cancer, each episode in her roller-coaster life is retold with complete frankness, wicked humour and a side of her infectious cackle.
Yes, Morris is Australia’s first lady of comedy for good reason. Having spent the last 30 years honing her skills as both a comedian and presenter, she’s now one of the busiest women in the business, co-hosting I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!, touring nationally as a stand-up performer, and all the while juggling her role as a wife and mum to two young girls.
Now she’s adding to her already full work plate by taking the helm of the new Australian version of Blind Date.
“I haven’t been single for some time,” the 50-year-old tells WHO. “But I remember that if I thought I could meet a decent guy, I’d try anything. I think Blind Date is as good a place as any to find The One.”
Morris has been married to Welsh comedian Dan Thomas since 2005. The pair met through friends at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival when Morris was “32 or 33” and are still going strong more than 17 years later.
“The first night was overnight romance!” she recalls, laughing. “But he called me the next day, so we were already on the right track. I’d usually date someone and get around five or six months in and be bored, though I never got sick of him. “I never got to that bit where I was like: ‘now I have to offload you.’ We’re still not there yet and I get joy from seeing him every day.”
But that’s not to say their life together has been smooth sailing. Since tying the knot in Vegas, the pair have battled through several miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy, which led to Morris undergoing emergency surgery – though she welcomed daughters Ruby and Sophie via non-complicated deliveries a few years later.
And most recently the TV star was plagued by bouts of menopausal-linked “intense aggression” that prompted a journey of mental health discovery last year.
“I went to see a psychologist because I knew I needed to do something about it,” she reveals. “In the past therapy has been something we’ve hidden. We used to make fun of people in LA because of their obsession with it, and we wouldn’t even admit to ourselves how we’re feeling.”
Visiting a psychologist, she was coached in cognitive behavioural therapy, or CBT, a type of psychotherapy designed to change unhealthy patterns of thinking, feeling, or behaving. “Now I can certainly see the difference,” she says.
For more from our chat with Julia Morris, pick up the latest copy of WHO on sale now!
Blind Date premieres Monday October 15 7:30PM on Network Ten
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