With nearly 30 years of media experience under her belt, Melissa Doyle has achieved incredible heights in her career.
WATCH BELOW: Mel Doyle departs Channel Seven
Although, her proudest achievements are of course her two kids, whom the journalist shares with her husband of 26-years, John Dunlop.
“I really enjoy just hanging out with them,” Mel gushes over her daughter Talia and son Nick in an exclusive chat with New Idea.
“There’s no one else I’d rather be with,” she says, adding that one of their favourite things to do together is just be at home – something they did plenty of during Sydney’s recent lockdown.
“I’ve never had so much time off in my entire life, so I really just tried to savour it,” Mel reveals. “It was for me a really incredible opportunity to be at home and bunker down and spend it with my kids, my family.”
The TV presenter has spent the last few weeks supporting her daughter as she undergoes the HSC, while also relishing in her son returning home from the US during his college break.
One of the things that’s kept them all busy, and bonding, was the new addition of a puppy, which they are jointly taking care of as a family.
“We would try to take her for a walk together or go to the park and play with her and train and we did puppy classes online,” Mel says.
“We could all gather around and we’re all trying to teach her different tricks so that was quite a cute little focus.”
With Talia nearing her 18th birthday, and Nick having turned 20 this year, Melissa has been enjoying this new chapter as a parent to young adults.
“Family has always been our priority that comes ahead of everything but now we just have different ways that we spend together,” she says.
“Having older children, their needs are a little bit different than when they’re primary school age and when they’re small they just need you in a different way so it’s lovely.”
After becoming a mum in her early thirties, Mel, now 51, had to navigate prioritising her kids while she had a “pretty full-on” job, which left little to no time for herself.
“People talk about work/life balance, and I’ve always said work/life priorities because I think they are very, very different,” she says.
One of the things that fell down the priority ladder for Mel was her health, where in light of the pandemic, which saw wellness come to the forefront, it came back to the top of her list.
“I wish I was one of those women that could say I prioritised my health,” Mel admits. “I probably didn’t do it as much as I should’ve because I just had so many other things juggling in the air.”
She adds: “I’m not saying that’s the right thing to do but that’s what I did so now that I’m a little bit older – and as you get older you become a little bit more aware of your own health.”
After coming to that realisation, Mel says that “you don’t take certain things for granted” as you may have some odd years ago.
“When you’re in your thirties you can pull an all-nighter and rock up the next day and you’re okay whereas now that I’m in my fifties, I can’t so you have to look after yourself a little bit more.”
Eye health in particular is something Mel has been focusing on as of late, after experiencing more than ten years of discomfort, which would later reveal itself as dry eye disease.
“Any viewers from Sunrise will remember I used to have big dramas with my eyes and what we always thought was allergies and I’d puff up,” she says.
After seeing countless doctors and immunologists and “all sorts of different people” to try to get to the source of the problem, it wasn’t until Mel saw optometrist Dr Jim Kokkinakis that she finally got her diagnosis; ocular rosacea.
“It was just one of those moments of going ‘what do you mean I’ve got that? I thought it was allergies’,” Mel recalls. “So, a really big moment for me which I was pretty grateful for.”
Getting properly diagnosed was just the first step for Mel, and she’s since gone on to have OptiLight treatments, which have been “very easy and quick”.
“I know that since I’ve started, touch wood, I’ve had no major flare-ups or reactions as I used to – thinking that they were allergies – so we’re going along nicely.”
OptiLight by Lumenis is the first and only FDA approved and TGA listed IPL technology with patented Optimal Pulse Technology to treat dry eye disease.
It’s been a “revolutionary experience” for Mel to finally have her eye health in check and properly maintained, and she’s never felt better.
“I’d like to be still kicking around at a hundred thanks very much and able to see what I’m doing,” she quips.
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