Why Peter Overton had to be convinced to take Jessica Rowe out
Jessica Rowe and Peter Overton are a powerhouse media couple who have been married for 14 years. But the couple first crossed paths when Jessica was just 19, a university student doing work experience at Channel 9. A decade later, Jessica and Peter would meet again at the Logies, now both working as established journalists. However, it still took several years before the couple got together, Jessica has revealed in a new interview on Mamamia’s No Filter podcast.
After her relationship at the time ended, Jessica remembers: “I was despairing because I was 32, and everyone around me was either in long-term partnerships, married, pregnant, about to have babies…”
She added: “I’ve always worn my heart on my sleeve, probably too much when it would come to relationships; I’d just get myself hurt, time and time again. So here I was again, single, thinking, ‘What’s going on? What’s happening to me?’
“One of my lovely friends who was a rugby league reporter – Tony Peters is his name – he also worked at Channel 10 and we’d have a coffee most days. He called me ‘Bombshell’, and he had this quite high-pitched voice. ‘Oh Bombshell, what’s going on. Surely there’s someone?’
“‘No, there’s no one. But you know who does seem really nice, Peter Overton.’ And Tony went, ‘Oh, I know him, I’ll ring him.’ I said ‘No you won’t.’ He said, ‘Yeah, leave it to me. I’ll ring him.’
“So after we’d had our coffee we went back into the newsroom and I look across was a big open plan newsroom and there’s Tony on the phone. He’d rung Peter. Unbeknownst to me, Tony had to convince Peter to take me out.”
Asked why Peter had to be convinced to take Jess out, she replies: “Well, because Petey had just started on 60 Minutes. He'd probably been there six months and it was an amazing job for him, he was travelling the world, he had been married before, he was divorced. He wasn't in that headspace.
“I didn't know any of this either - Tony hadn't spoken to Peter for probably five years. So he was like, ‘Hello, it’s Tony Peters here. What's your status?’ And Peter went, ‘I beg your pardon?’ ‘You know, are you seeing anyone?’ Peter went, ‘No.’ And Tony went, ‘Do you know Jessica Rowe? What about taking her out?’ and Peter said, ‘Oh no. Listen, she seems really nice, but...’
“And so this conversation went on and on, and Tony says to Peter, ‘Oh come on mate, just do me a favour. She’ll probably end up with the local barista. Just take her out. She's a bit sad at the moment.’ Peter went, ‘Oh okay. Alright, I will. But she has to ring me.’
“So Tony comes across the newsroom half an hour later, does not - to his credit - say any of that to me. He goes ‘Bombshell, he'd love to take you out. Here’s his number, give him a ring.’
“So I thought, 'Damn it. I will ring.' Because I'd asked blokes out before - sometimes you have to. So I rang Petey and, I'll never forget, he said to me, 'I like your style.' I went, 'Oh, phew!'
“He said, 'Ah, so yes, Tony's been talking to me.' And I said, 'Yes, I know he has. Well, you know, what do you think? Should we go out to dinner?' Peter went, 'Yep, I'd love to take you out. I'm home this weekend, we'll go out to a Thai restaurant, I'll pick you up at this time... blah blah blah.'
“So he did and it was a lovely night. At the end of the evening I made him get a parking ticket, but then he dropped me home. Nothing happened, of course.”