Radio personality Jay-Jay Harvey has pulled out of her planned book tour after walking out of her show during a live recording.
The Edge presenter left in the middle of a show just after 8.30am yesterday and was absent again today.
“I’m a little worried, what is she doing?” asked her husband and co-host, Dom Harvey, at the time.
Dom and fellow co-host Clinton Randell later explained why she had left the studio.
“It turns out Jay Jay was in one of the toilet cubicles crying at the time,” explained Dom.
“Jay-Jay is a sufferer of depression, and I guess exhaustion as well, you know she takes a lot on, and then it gets to the point where things get a little bit too much, and she’s had another one of these, I don’t know if you’d call it an episode or something else,”
“She takes a hell of a lot on. Most people kind of have a functioning mechanism, but Jay-Jay just reaches a point, it’s like a computer where there’s too many things open and then it just sort of shuts down.”
Dom explained that he was not sure how long Jay-Jay would be away – it could just be until the end of the week, or it could be several weeks.
His wife has also cancelled the next two weeks of her book tour, which was to promote her new memoir Life on The Edge.
In her second book, Jay-Jay touches on her experience with mental illness.
“My depression rears its ugly head ever now and again, and brings the whole party down. …. I hate myself for not being able to do everything that’s expected of me, and I try to push everyone away so they don’t see me like this,” she wrote.
“I stop going out, I pull out of commitments and I contemplate quitting; quit my job, quit my extra-curricular commitments, quit everything. I need to cry it out and try to get some clarity, try to figure out what exactly it is that’s bringing me down.”
While it is unconfirmed when the radio host will return to air, Dom said the couple were lucky to work at a radio station where other talented team members could fill in.
Where to get help:
• Lifeline – 0800 543 354
• Depression Helpline – 0800 111 757
• Healthline – 0800 611 116
• Samaritans – 0800 726 666
• Suicide Crisis Helpline – 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO).
• Youthline – 0800 376 633. You can also text 234 for free between 8am and midnight, or email [email protected].
