Lisa Wilkinson has broken her silence on her exit from The Project and Channel 10 four years ago.
The TV personality opened up about her departure for the first time in a new interview with the Stellar podcast Something To Talk About.
“Channel 10 took me off air. It was their decision, not mine,” she said in the interview.
Wilkinson had to announce her own departure from the show live on air in November 2022, and revealed why it panned out that way.
“I was given no choice, and sometimes in life when you’re given no choice, you just steel yourself,” she said.
“You do it and you keep moving forward and that’s what I had to do.”
Wilkinson joined The Project as a co-host in January 2018.
In 2022, she received a Logie for the Most Outstanding News Coverage of Public Affairs Report for her interview with Brittany Higgins about the sexual assault allegations against Bruce Lehrmann.
During her acceptance speech for the Logie, Wilkinson praised Higgins’ courage just before Lehrmann’ sexual assault trial which forced a delay due to potential contempt of court.
Five years on, the veteran journalist revealed she has no regrets about the interview.
“Just after that interview, The Human Rights Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, led an investigation into the safety of women working in Parliament House,” she said in the podcast.
“There were a whole lot of recommendations that came out of that investigation, and I think all of them have now been implemented,” she continued.
“So when I look back on having done that story, that’s probably the thing of which I’m most proud. Because I’ve spoken to a number of members of Parliament, as well as people who work in Parliament House at every level who’ve said to me, ‘It’s not perfect yet, but it’s a whole lot better since that investigation was done.’
“So if I can put that on my journalistic CV, even just for my own comfort, the story was worth it.”
Wilkinson has kept a relatively low profile since her exit from The Project. She has been working on a new book titled The Titanic Story of Evelyn, which tells the story of the only Australian who survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, set to release on the 14th of April.
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