Rebecca Judd beats back demons as she prepares for prime-time role
- From: The Sunday Times
- December 22, 2012
HER TV debut as a weather presenter caused her so much anxiety she couldn't eat and fuelled an unprecedented storm about her skinny appearance.
But, six years on, Rebecca Judd is confident she can now handle delivering the weather for a prime-time news bulletin.
The celebrity Perth model will join Channel 9's 6pm News in Melbourne from next March.
Judd will replace Livinia Nixon while she is on maternity leave.
The glamorous wife of Carlton footballer Chris Judd will also be the sole host of the long-running show Postcards next year - an endorsement that shows Nine has high hopes for her TV career.
Judd described the weather role as a dream job. She first read the weather in Perth in 2007 during a fill-in stint for Channel 7.
At the time she said it made her so anxious she didn't want to eat and she was so nervous before going on air she felt like crying.
Her nerves were made worse by hundreds of postings on different websites at the time labelling her anorexic.
Judd said she was feeling much more relaxed this time.
"I just feel like I've got more confidence now, and that just comes from experience really, it's all about experience," she said.
Trained as a speech pathologist, the mother of one-year-old son Oscar said her career focus was now on TV presenting.
"I did speech pathology at the Alfred Hospital and then Cabrini (hospital), then I kind of moved on to Postcards and I thought, I really love this," she said.
"I thought, this is the job that I love the most.
"So for now I'm going to concentrate on this, I'll have my degree forever."