Meshel Laurie has recalled the night that Georgie Gardner saved her life.
The comedian and radio host, 45, told Rob McKnight’s TV Blackbox podcast this week that the Today show host, 48, once talked her out of committing suicide.
Meshel said Georgie had reached out to her at a low point in her life, and her message helped pull her out of a dangerous mood.
‘She saved my life’: Meshel Laurie (left) has recalled how Georgie Gardner (right) once talked her out of committing suicide
Meshel said: ‘There was something about [Georgie’s] message that just… like, I was embarrassed but… you know normally when you’re embarrassed you get angry? Particularly when you’re drunk. But I don’t know, it didn’t make me angry.
‘She was really kind and she was just saying, like everyone used to say to Charlotte [Dawson, who died by suicide in 2014], “Switch off [social media], mate. Let it go, get some sleep, tomorrow’s another day sort of thing”. And I did. I just switched it off.’
Meshel, who is no stranger to posting controversial tweets, said she was surprised by Georgie’s kindness and cannot understand why people are so critical of the veteran journalist.
‘I woke up and read her messages again and thought, “Oh, God. What a nice lady. She’s got enough to deal with in her actual life”. And I haven’t spoken to her again,’ she added.
‘And I sometimes I see things in the media… and I think, “I must try and find a way to tell the world that she’s a really nice person!”‘
Support: Meshel said Georgie had reached out to her at a low point in her life, and her message helped pull her out of a dangerous mood. Pictured on August 7, 2016 in Melbourne
Meshel has always been open about struggles in her personal life.
In 2017, she recalled how her IVF experience ‘ended’ her marriage to husband-of-19-years Adrian Lewinski. The former couple share nine-year-old twins, Dali and Louise.
‘I don’t think he was necessarily ready for parenthood but I was 37, I needed to move – he definitely felt pressured into that process so I essentially went it alone,’ she told WHO magazine.
‘It ended it, really and truly.’
Candid: Meshel has always been open about struggles in her personal life. Pictured (far right) on Channel 10’s The Project
She continued: ‘I think the last five years to six years [of the marriage] weren’t great and it was just the process of letting go that takes a long time… over the course of those 19 years we became different people.’
The Buddhism for Break-ups author previously spoke about feeling alone throughout her pregnancy.
‘I had to push [Adrian] into IVF,’ she once told Mamamia.
‘And a pregnancy with a husband who won’t speak to you is really hard, and going through the pregnancy with nobody touching my stomach or being excited about the babies, it was hideous.’
Struggles: In 2017, Meshel recalled how her IVF experience ‘ended’ her marriage to husband Adrian Lewinski (pictured)
Meshel, who married Adrian six months after meeting at a work-for-the-dole program, also said that having the twins drastically changed their lives.
‘We’d been together for I think 11 or 12 years before we had kids so that changed our lives a lot,’ she said.
‘I think when you start to parent with someone, you see a different side of them – not that it’s a bad side but you just start to squabble about parenting, it’s just a raft of new things to annoy each other about.’
If you or someone who you know is struggling, call Lifeline on 13 11 14
