Melinda Messenger on the exhaustion of fame: how the star lost everything and found herself.

From Fame to Peace

According to The Sun: Once, her bright light was impossible to miss – the wandering blonde and wide smile became an inseparable part of the media. But backstage, former Page 3 star and national treasure Melinda Messenger was going through tough times, on the brink of financial and emotional collapse, wanting to escape the public eye – afraid it could lead to her demise.

Melinda was one of the country's favorite models News Group Newspapers Ltd

In her most candid interview, 54-year-old Melinda confessed:

“It's a bit like being on a hamster wheel and a bit caught up in your own success, to put it mildly. For me, it was, 'I have to earn, I have to provide for my family.'

 

“And I really wanted to work. But inside, I felt awful, and I was struggling.”

Although her life looked like a dream, in reality, she was suffering from exhaustion and burnout.

“The literal thought was, 'This is going to kill me. I just can’t take it anymore.'”

- she confessed at an event promoting the book by Bianca Best *Big Impact without Burnout*.

Melinda, who became famous thanks to television shows such as *Cowboy Builders*, initially gained popularity as a model and later as a presenter. Her show *Melinda’s Big Night In* aired on Channel 5 in 1998.

She also participated in various reality shows, including *Celebrity Big Brother* in 2002 and *Dancing On Ice* in 2009. But the pressure of 18-hour workdays, combined with raising three children – sons Morgan and Flynn and daughter Eva from ex-husband Wayne Roberts – took a toll on her health.

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She explained:

“In 1997, most people knew me from various shows. I had three small children. I was lucky to be working on television, which I loved dearly, but I was absolutely exhausted.”

 

“It got to the point where I was literally filming series back to back. My average day started at 6 AM and ended at 11 PM – if I didn’t have to go to the next location. It was very intense… I had my breaking point and realized I couldn’t go on.”

 

“It was a life crisis. Everything fell apart. Literally.”

 

“My marriage ended, and I experienced a complete financial ruin for various reasons and lost everything I had earned. Internally I went through a total collapse – a really bad depression, to the point where I thought… it’s hard work.”

After she left regular television work, Melinda trained in psychotherapy and has been practicing since 2015. Now, running her own practice, she also engages in dream guidance – using dreaming to help people navigate their subconscious.

Search for Love and Fatigue

Melinda recalled the changes in her life tied to her participation in the show *Celebrity SAS* in 2023, which became a turning point for her in many ways. Here she started dating doctor Doc Raj Joshi, who was a medic on the show.

Prior to this, she had been single for three years after romantic relationships with snowboarder Warren Smith, whom she met during the reality show *The Jump*, and a brief eight-month romance with marine Chris Harding, whom she met on *Celebrity First Dates*.

These were fleeting relationships – Doc proposed just a few months after their vacation in New Zealand. At that time Melinda said:

“This is the biggest thing that happened to me on the show!”

 

“When I came out, I was crying, sweating, bleeding, crying and peeing, and I’m not joking, in this old sports bra and cycling shorts, covered in bruises and yes, with fungus on my feet.”

The star returned to screens in *Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins* in 2023 Rex

 

“The producer asked, 'Do you want to see a doctor? Maybe it’s worth it. Just pop in and talk.'

 

“We just kept in touch after that, and here we are!”

 

“So, the show changed my life in many aspects, and I’m truly grateful for it.”

However, just six months after the engagement, they broke up, and Melinda was alone again.

 

“This idea was instilled in women’s consciousness that you have to 'do it all' – have a family by day and build a business by night... My three children are already grown, but it was a huge struggle to juggle everything,”

- she noted.

 

“It seems that for women this is more dominant than for men.”

The Game of Fame

Melinda also admitted that she copes with the pressure of fame on television by sharing her experience.

 

“For me, fame is something I don’t always feel. I’ve always felt the same… but the change was in how others might treat me. That’s how it played out in my life,”

- she said.

 

“Sometimes it was a challenge, and sometimes it was very rewarding. The pressure I felt was to be very noticeable and visible all the time.”

 

“People are surprised considering what I’ve done in my past career, but I’m actually more introverted than extroverted.”

 

“So, it was difficult – but I was able to keep my kids fairly separate from fame, choosing a particular type of school to keep everything as normal and real as possible.”

 

“The world of fame can be quite alienating from reality. I worked hard on this. But I felt immense pressure.”

Melinda explained that her own psychotherapy practice helped her to understand her life and what she really needed. Although it's far from her glamorous light, she has finally found peace.