How We Met: Peter Overton's 'light-bulb moment' about Jessica Rowe
By Imogen Dewey| 1 year ago
The 9News Sydney newsreader and 60 Minutes reporter tells 9Honey about the woman who changed his life
Two or three years into their relationship, Peter Overton says he had a "light-bulb moment" about Jessica Rowe. It was late on a Friday, and the 9News Sydney newsreader and 60 Minutes reporter was packing up the rental car after a 60 Minutes shoot, rushing to get to Melbourne Airport.
"I thought, 'I can't ask for more in a person. She loves me, she cares for me, she makes me happy – we get on so well,'" he tells 9Honey.
"We really did. We really do."
Peter Overton and Jessica Rowe married in 2004. (Supplied)
He called a mutual friend – a jeweler – and asked him to design a ring. The morning he went to pick it up, Rowe asked him to help her mother move some furniture.
"I knocked on the door at 7.30 in the morning and said, 'I've got better things to be doing with my time than [be] here helping you move furniture.'"
She was, obviously, a bit stunned.
"And I said, 'because I've got to pick up your daughter's engagement ring.' Bang, she gave me this bear hug."
Then he rang Rowe's father, telling him he planned to propose the following week.
"Unfortunately, John Rowe cannot keep a secret," Overton says. "He said, 'No, you've got to do it today because I won't be able to contain the news.'
'Unfortunately, John Rowe cannot keep a secret.' (9Honey)
"So I went back to Jessica's apartment, and as she got out of the shower – she walked out of the bathroom with a towel around her, sopping wet ­– I said, 'Will you marry me?' and gave her this beautiful ring."
"I absolutely knocked her socks off. She didn't see that coming at a million miles an hour. She said, 'Of course,' and screamed, as old Jessica can, hugged me. It was lovely."
WATCH: Peter Overton tells 9Honey about proposing to Jessica Rowe on the fly. (Post continues.)
The pair in fact met 25 years ago, though Overton says he doesn't remember it: he was a young sports reporter at Nine, Rowe was on work experience, and they were both sent out to cover a story about a Russian boxer visiting Australia. Later, she was a receptionist at Wide World of Sports. They met again at the Logies, had a good chat, "and that was the end of that," Overton says.
READ MORE: Peter Overton will make you want to be a better parent
Then in 2001, Overton's phone rang. It was a friend, telling him to ask Jessica Rowe out on a date. Overton said no – he was newly divorced, newly started at 60 Minutes, and in his words, "finding his feet". But his friend was insistent.
'He rang and said, 'Peter, ask Jessica Rowe out on a date.'' (Getty)
"I said, 'Well if she rings me within 10 minutes and asks me out, I'll go,'" Overton says.
"And she rang. And I said, 'I like your style.'
"We went out on a Sunday night to a Thai restaurant in Balmain. That was in June 2001 and it's now July 2018, and we've never been apart."
A post shared by Jessica Rowe (@jessjrowe) on Dec 20, 2017 at 4:39am PST
Overton credits Rowe with "hanging in" at the beginning of their relationship –­ he'd recently been hurt and says he had a tendency to keep things at arm's length. After 14 years of marriage and two kids (Allegra, 11 and Giselle, 9), they've both done their part to make it work.
"If you don't, it'll fall apart, and suddenly you realise months and years have passed and you're missing each other. So we work very hard at not missing each other," Overton says.
'She's a very generous person of spirit, very caring of people,' Overton says of his wife. (Getty)
"We're very, very good communicators. That's maybe because of the industry we work in; it's maybe because of the love and respect we have for each other. That's the glue that keeps it all going."
Both are media powerhouses in their own right. Overton's a primetime fixture at Nine; Rowe has done her own (decade-long) stint as a news presenter, hosted several major Australian shows, published three books and now runs a podcast and website. In 2015 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her mental health advocacy, and her openness about her own mental health struggles has built her a loyal following.
READ MORE: The moment Jessica Rowe knew she had to be there for her girls
"She's a very generous person of spirit, very caring of people," Overton says.
"She's also very strong-willed and strongly opinionated. She sticks up for herself and doesn't mind calling things out if they need to be called out. I've always admired that. She's very much her own person, doesn't dance to the tune of what people think, and I think that's why she's been so successful."
Overton says Rowe's highly successful career is thanks to her guts and grit. 'She had the corage to not curl up in a ball but to stand up,' he says. (AAP)
"I love everything about her," he continues. "I love her courage. She's a great example to our daughters about what you can do in life."
LISTEN: More parenting advice (and misadventures) in this week's episode of the Honey Mums podcast. (Post continues.)
Overton jokes about Rowe's constant hair-colour changes, her lack of organisation, the way she never picks up the phone on the first go.
"But why would I change anything?" he says. "It all works beautifully well."
Overton and Rowe have two children: Allegra (11) and Giselle (9). 'She's a great example to them about what you can do in life,' Overton says. (Getty)
"We care for each other very, very much, take each other's counsel. We're opposite in a lot of ways but that actually works for us – I'm more conservative and Jessica's more, 'It'll happen, it'll be right.'
"But it works."
To see more stories from 9Honey's How We Met series, head here. And if you know someone with an beautiful story of their own (or you have one), email me: idewey@nine.com.au