Trigger warning: This post deals with topics including sexual harassment and sexual violence.
She’s had a stellar career in media that has spanned four decades, and now Lisa Wilkinson is set to spill all the juicy details in her autobiography, It Wasn’t Meant to Be Like This.
WATCH: Lisa Wilkinson breaks down on The Project
The book is set to explore the celebrated journalist’s rise to the top after facing relentless bullying as a teenager, which motivated her to make a name for herself.
It will give readers a look into Lisa’s career, from her stint as editor of the iconic teen magazine DOLLY at the age of 21 to her shock exit from the Today show in 2017, which would later spawn whispers of bad blood between her and former co-host, Karl Stefanovic.
The website’s bio reads: “This is the story of how a young girl from Sydney’s western suburbs came to be such a force in Australian cultural life. It is a story that is honest, funny, engaging – and powerfully inspirational.”
Ahead of the book’s highly-anticipated release on November 3, we take a look at some of the biggest bombshells that have dropped so far.
Ousted from Nine
Lisa opened up about the explosive moment she discovered that she would no longer be hosting the Today show – a role she’d had for a decade.
In an interview with journalist Hamish Macdonald on The Project to discuss her book, she spoke about being ousted by Channel Nine, saying she “felt stupid and humiliated and betrayed and pretty pathetic.”
Speaking of the moment she was told she no longer had a job at Nine, Lisa said, “I was standing in aisle six at Woolies holding a can of tuna [when she got the call from management].”
She continued, “But no one knew that I had this offer from Channel 10. I think the idea was to humiliate me because I’d been in negotiations to try and close the gender pay gap.”
Lisa explained that negotiations with Nine had been in place to attempt to close the pay gap with her co-host of 10 years, Karl Stefanovic.
“It doesn’t get much bigger than the gap that I experienced. I was very expendable. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to your audience. I was told ‘That’s it.”
WATCH: Karl Stefanovic reveals Allison Langdon’s modelling photo
Her frosty relationship with Karl Stefanovic
Meanwhile, Karl reportedly raked in a whopping $2 million a year with a potential bonus that could take his salary to $3 million, according to The Australian.
Despite Lisa and Karl’s decade together on the show, Lisa admitted she no longer has a relationship with her former colleague.
“Look, we’re not really in touch,” she revealed, before telling a producer off-camera, “I’d rather we didn’t use this if you don’t mind, because I don’t want to look like I’m… you know …”
“But I was hurt,” she continued. “I was hurt. But you pick up and you move on and that’s exactly what I did.”
The Project host also explained that she had invited Karl and his partner Jasmine Yarbrough to attend her 25th wedding anniversary vow renewal ceremony to husband Peter FitzSimons in October 2017.
However, just days before the ceremony, Karl contacted Lisa’s husband to say that he and Jasmine would not be attending as they had extended their holiday.
“In the ten days since [the ceremony] Karl hadn’t contacted me, his co-host of almost eleven years, at all. No phone message, no text, no apology, not even a simple congrats. Just complete silence,” Lisa claimed.
Nor did Karl acknowledge Lisa as they worked together following Karl’s no-show.
She said, “For the next two hours, I exchanged not a single word with Karl outside of what was scripted – because, for the first time, I just didn’t trust myself to ‘play nice’.”
“For two hours, I sat there feeling completely useless. The Today show was now The Karl Show. What was the point of me even being there?”
Exposing the ‘boys club’
In a recent interview with The Herald Sun, Lisa clarified that she will be talking about her farewell from Channel Nine four years ago, but she is not trying to start a war with Karl.
“What’s out there at the moment looks like I am trying to attack Karl, but as you know in the book, that’s not what I’m doing,” Lisa told the publication.
The Project host continued: “I’m just not keeping men’s secrets anymore. I think, as women, when we do that all we do is strengthen the boys’ club and we do women a disservice.”
Lisa also explained that she waited four years to pen her story so she wouldn’t share her perspective in anger.
Sexual assault
In a candid interview with Stellar Magazine, Lisa revealed that her friend’s father sexually assaulted her as a teenager.
After harbouring the experience for nearly five decades, she explained to the publication why she decided to speak about it.
“I thought, if [women] don’t come forward and don’t show how incredibly common these experiences are, then the perpetrators win. And I couldn’t be a party to that,” she said.
In her book, she has shared details about the event, which took place at a close friend’s house when her friend’s father cornered her in a room and began to stroke her breasts before rubbing the crotch of her pants.
The presenter wrote that she was able to push the man off her and run to her father, who had just arrived to pick her up.
Lisa also told Stellar that former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins inspired her to share this story in her memoir after confiding in the 27-year-old.
“Women can only speak when they are ready. But there are more women speaking because they now know that they will be believed, they will be heard, and they can seek justice,” she said.
WATCH: Lisa Wilkinson breaks down on The Project
More bombshells to come
She first announced her tell-all memoir back in July.
“In it, I’ve completely opened up on things I’ve never talked about before, not even with some of my closest girlfriends,” Lisa said in a statement at the time.
“I share the roller coaster ride of joys, and sadnesses, the pinch-myself moments, and the hard lessons I’ve had to learn along the way.”
You can preorder Lisa’s memoir for currently $33.50 via Booktopia.
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