Former Edge radio host Jay-Jay Harvey has tearfully recounted her and husband Dominic Harvey’s 8 year battle to have a child.
Harvey spoke about her experience on Wednesday night’s episode of The Project. To coincide with Fertility Week, the show has been highlighting fertility issues all week and has encouraged people to share stories about their difficulties trying to conceive.
Jay-Jay, who split with her husband Dom last year, candidly revealed the heartbreaking struggle the pair faced, and the toll it took on their relationship.
Jay-Jay and former husband Dom hosted the Edge breakfast show.
“My husband Dom and I have actually had five unsuccessful rounds of IVF and four failed attempts at artificial insemination with donor sperm” she began.
“Everyone tells you it’s a roller coaster,” the 43-year-old explained as she welled up. “And there is no better way to describe it, because we rode it for 8 years with so many high hopes, and glimmers of hope, and then ultimately disappointment.”
“And…that wore us both down. It brought on my depression. It…created cracks in our relationship. So we couldn’t do it any longer and we eventually gave up.”
Jay-Jay spoke through her tears.
As she apologised for crying, host Jesse Mulligan wiped away a tear.
Jay-Jay went on to explain the affect it has had on her former husband. Dom has a condition called retrograde ejaculation, which was the cause of their infertility.
“Dom wants more than anything to be a father. To…feel that total unconditional love that you can only feel when you have your own child.”
“It’s absolutely broken his heart that he hasn’t been able to experience that. And I…feel completely sad that I could not help him achieve that either.”
Host Jesse Mulligan wipes away a tear.
Jay-Jay quit her job on the Edge in November last year after 23 years at the radio station. She was announced last month as the next More FM drive show host alongside Jason Gunn.
Her 18 year relationship with Dom had come to an end in mid 2017, however she’s remaining open to a reconciliation.
“I’m not divorced,” Jay-Jay told Woman’s Day last month. “I might get the old itch back in a year or so. I’m not closing the door on it.”
