Tinhlm.AU – “I still carry a bit of that guilt”: Clint Stanaway reveals the hidden cost of the life he could no longer keep living

For years, Clint Stanaway was the man Australians could count on.

He was there for the early starts, the breaking news, the sporting headlines, the long days and the endless travel. On screen and behind the microphone, he brought warmth, humour and an easy familiarity that made him feel less like a television personality and more like someone Australians already knew.

But behind that familiar face was a life that had gradually become almost entirely about work.

For Clint, there eventually came a point when something had to give.

“There was a breaking point”

Stanaway had spent almost 25 years working across Australian television and radio, building a career that demanded early mornings, constant movement and very little time to switch off.

For a long time, he managed it.

He loved the opportunities in front of him and, when breakfast radio became another part of his working life, he did not want to choose between the two careers.

“I sort of equate it to a rubber band that’s being pulled … it turned out there was a breaking point,” he recalled.

There were also voices around him warning that he could not keep going forever.

People would tell him they did not know how he managed it and that eventually he would burn out.

But there was another reason he kept pushing.

“I just didn’t want to let anyone down,” Stanaway admitted.

And, underneath that, was a desire to prove the doubters wrong.

“There was a part of me that wanted to keep proving people wrong,” he said.

The combination was powerful: opportunity, ambition and the fear of disappointing other people.

Eventually, his body began telling him what he had been unwilling to hear.

The warning signs became impossible to ignore

At first, exhaustion could easily be explained away.

The early mornings were demanding. The travel was relentless. The workload was simply part of the job.

Then the symptoms began to pile up.

Stanaway experienced periods of insomnia despite being completely exhausted.

“I was so tired, but I couldn’t sleep,” he said.

There were headaches, anxiety, stomach problems and issues with his chest.

Looking back, he realised his body had been under enormous stress.

“My body was obviously stressed and that was fuelling this anxiety, which I covered up for so long,” he reflected.

But perhaps the clearest warning was not physical at all.

It was what was disappearing from his life.

Work, eat, sleep — and little else

Stanaway describes himself during that period as becoming something of a “work hermit”.

His world had narrowed to a repetitive cycle.

“I was working, eating, sleeping.”

The things he was missing might have looked insignificant from the outside.

They were not.

He missed birthdays belonging to nieces and nephews. He missed christenings. He missed milestone celebrations with friends. There were weddings he simply could not attend.

None of those moments appeared on a career résumé.

But they were moments he could never get back.

“I still carry a bit of that guilt with me today,” he said.

“They were small things, but they were important things.”

That realisation became one of the most painful parts of looking back.

Clint had been showing up professionally for everyone — while quietly missing pieces of his own life.

The decision that changed everything

Eventually, something had to change.

Stanaway decided to step away from television, ending his long association with Nine after almost a quarter of a century.

It was a decision that could easily have felt like a loss.

Instead, he felt something he had not expected.

Relief.

“It felt like a massive relief,” he said.

“Almost immediately, I felt so relieved, but also so satisfied and happy with the decision I made.”

Rather than walking away from broadcasting altogether, Stanaway kept radio in his life, continuing with Nova’s breakfast show alongside Jase Hawkins and Lauren Phillips.

By May 2026, his place on the program had become official, with the show renamed Jase, Lauren & Clint.

The difference was not simply about changing jobs.

It was about changing the way he lived.

“It feels different. It feels right.”

A few months into the new rhythm, Stanaway noticed something surprisingly simple.

He was sleeping again.

“I’m a professional sleeper now,” he joked.

For someone who had spent years living according to a diary packed with commitments, having time that belonged to him felt almost unfamiliar.

“It’s been really nice just to do what I want when I want.”

The pressure of constantly needing to be somewhere had eased.

And with it came something that had been missing for years: space.

Finding his way back through movement

Exercise became an important part of that recovery.

Stanaway had always been active, having been a competitive swimmer as a child. Now he returned to the pool, spent more time walking and began experimenting with mat Pilates.

He describes exercise as a powerful antidote to stress and burnout.

“I’m the sort of guy that wants to and needs to stay active and that was probably my saving grace,” he said.

“If I didn’t stay active, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do it for as long as I did.”

His goals also began to change.

Rather than constantly chasing the next professional obligation, he started setting goals simply because he wanted to.

One of them is completing a triathlon.

Even his evenings look different.

He puts his devices away an hour before bed and reads instead of endlessly scrolling.

The changes may sound small.

After years of living at full speed, they represent something much bigger.

And now, another chapter is beginning

There is an especially poignant detail in Stanaway’s story now.

After years of worrying that there was never enough time, he is preparing for a completely different kind of responsibility.

In June 2026, Stanaway revealed that he is expecting his first child with his close friend, former The Block contestant Eliza Paschke. The pair have chosen to co-parent rather than enter a romantic relationship, describing their future family as different but full of love. Their baby is due in November.

It gives his decision to slow down an even deeper meaning.

The man who once described his life as working, eating and sleeping is now making room for something that cannot be scheduled around a seven-day working week.

He has also spoken about wanting to become a father for years.

“One day I see myself as a dad,” he said.

And when he speaks about his own father, the admiration is unmistakable.

“If I can be half the man that he is, I’d be very, very happy.”

What Clint wishes he had understood sooner

Stanaway does not look back on his career with regret.

He is proud of what he achieved and grateful for the opportunities that came his way.

The lesson, he says, is somewhere else.

“I didn’t stop and I didn’t draw breath; I just kept going.”

That may be the simplest explanation for how he reached breaking point.

There was no single dramatic moment.

There were years of saying yes.

Years of early mornings.

Years of travelling, working and trying not to disappoint anyone.

Until eventually, the cost became impossible to ignore.

His advice now comes from experience rather than theory: recognise the warning signs, do not simply push through exhaustion, stop and breathe, and talk to the people you trust before your body makes the decision for you.

For Clint Stanaway, stepping away from one part of the career he had built for nearly 25 years did not mean giving something up.

It meant finally making room for the life that had been waiting on the other side of the work.