54
BACKINBUSINESS
‘TOBEALIVEIS
TOGOTHROUGH
SUFFERING’
MODELTURNEDPSYCHOTHERAPIST MELINDA
MESSENGER TELLSOK!’SJOSIECOPSON
ABOUTHERDRAMATICCHANGEOFCAREER
P
osing on a couch wouldn’t have
been unusual in the early days of
former model Melinda Messenger’s
career. Now, three decades on,
it’s her clients who are perched on her
couch, offloading their worries. That’s
because the 48-year-old TV presenter has
dramatically switched career direction to
retrain as a transpersonal psychotherapist.
She was a success on TV, fronting
shows like Cowboy Builders and the
Health Lottery draws, when she decided
to make the change. But as we join
Melinda at our exclusive OK! photoshoot,
there’s no doubting the passion she feels
about her new career. She’s thoughtful,
intelligent and inquisitive, and it’s
abundantly clear there’s way more to her
than her famous assets.
During our interview she explains how
she underwent psychotherapy herself
as part of her training and how it helped
‘unearth’ the real Melinda and caused her
to reassess her life. ‘Sadly, going through
the training, my life changed in lots of ways
including my marriage of 20 years coming
to an end,’ she says. Former husband
Wayne Roberts is the father of her three
children – Morgan, 19, Flynn, 17, and Evie,
15 – but despite their divorce in 2011, the
couple’s relationship is now amicable.
Here, Melinda tells OK! why she’s
happy to be single and wait for the right
relationship, how her low self-esteemaffected her life and why becoming a
glamour model in the late ’90s was a
challenging experience...When did you begin studying
transpersonal psychotherapy?
I started back in 2011, and, in total, I’ve
done five years. It’s very intense as it has
involved having psychotherapy myself
and it has led to a lot of changes so I’ve
taken breaks along the way. My marriage
ended after 20 years, which is quite
common once you start embarking on
this journey. So I had to juggle my studies
with raising three children on my own.
I’d invested in a business with Wayne
and some friends and ended up having
to liquidate the company. As a result,
I lost my home. I’ve since discovered
my own value, and that’s led to a better
relationship with money.When will you fully qualify?
Next year. My hope is to get my masters
degree next. It’s the most rewarding thing
I have ever done in my life. Most of my
therapy work so far is voluntary, so it’s not
financially rewarding, but it’s a passion. I’d
rather do this than anything else.What have you learnt about yourself?
I’ve learnt a lot! I had a sense I wasn’t
being who I truly am, but I didn’t know
why. I’d made choices in my relationship