Crushed by guilt after radio’s royal prank ended in tragedy almost two years ago, Mel Greig is finally learning to live again.
After almost two years battling a deep depression that left her unable to laugh, get out of bed or even be held by her supportive fiance, radio star Mel Greig is ready to reclaim her life.
Her sights are now firmly set on the future as she prepares to marry Steven Pollock, the man who stood by her side when she found herself at the centre of international condemnation – when a London nurse killed herself days after being pranked in a hoax phone call about the Duchess of Cambridge.
Now Mel, 32, has banished the terrible thoughts that plagued her mind during her lowest moments.
Instead, she is fired up by a personal mission to help others fight mental illness and change how the radio industry treats prank calls. The former Austereo DJ says she wants nothing more than “to be Mel again’’ – happy, healthy and back on the air.
“I will always feel partly responsible because my name was in someone’s suicide note,’’ Mel says. “Not just ‘the DJ’. My name…
“But I’m not going to let it define me. I’m just going to remember.’’
“Nothing will change the fact that Jacintha thought of me before she took her own life and that is something that is really hard to come to terms with.”
From the moment Mel learned that Jacintha had committed suicide, she blamed herself and made the personal commitment that she would do whatever she could to help the Saldanha family.
True to her word, last month she voluntarily travelled to London to appear at the inquest into the nurse’s death.While she wasn’t permitted by the court to testify, despite the family’s lawyers urging the coroner to allow her to be heard, she was allowed to read a statement in which she offered an emotional apology to Jacintha’s husband and children.
“I always knew I was going to be at that inquest,’’ explains Mel, “and I always thought I needed to do something to help the Saldanha family.
“I looked at them and we had eye contact the whole time, which was a very surreal moment… to be looking them in the eye and to say sorry.
“I think that was the best way to do it because they could see that it was genuine.’’
Mel says that following the inquest, she now feels “at peace’’ that she’s done everything she can to help the Saldanha family, although she still finds it hard to leave the heartache behind.
“I won’t ever fully forgive myself but I’ve found a way to accept it, I’ve done what I can and now it’s time to move forward.
“It’s time for everyone to move on, see me for who I am, see what I can do and let me have those opportunities again.’’
Read the full interview and hear about the Bali wedding that Mel is planning after a romantic proposal from her fiance Steven only in Woman’s Day – on sale Monday October 13.
If you or somebody you know is struggling, support is available by contacting Lifeline on 13 11 14.
