Why Albo ‘cries all the time’
Anthony Albanese isn’t afraid to say he’s in touch with his emotions, revealing he cries “all the time” and how it feels to be attacked for doing his job.
The Prime Minister opened up on his emotional state during a wide-ranging appearance on Jess Rowe’s Big Talk Show on Wednesday morning.
“Oh, um, I cry all the time. I’m a very emotional person,” Mr Albanese told the podcast host.
“I grew up … just me and mum. My mum was a very emotional person as well, she had a much tougher life than I've had.
“And so, I do get emotional about things, I care about issues, I think what we do is important.”
Mr Albanese referenced the upcoming Voice referendum on October 14 and the opportunity to “make a difference” as having a major impact on his life.
Mr Albanese said that overall he was a pretty happy person but found the attacks he received from time to time to be “difficult”.
“Some of the personal attacks that come on, it’s like, ‘Oh, c’mon, really?’” he said.
“We were talking … about my itinerary in the last week, which consisted of, you know, from Canberra to Jakarta, to Manila to Delhi, back to Canberra to question time.
“And then you will then have people go, ‘Ah flying around, the luxury’, and it’s like, ‘Ahh really?’
“It’s exhausting. It’s completely exhausting.”
It’s not the first time Mr Albanese has dished on his feelings.
He has previously discussed the heartbreak he felt when ex-wife (and former NSW deputy premier) Carmel Tebbutt blindsided him by leaving him on New Year’s Day in 2019.
He told Rowe that jetting off to London and Lisbon for some “me time” helped him come to terms with the breakdown of his marriage.
But it was silver linings for the Mr Albanese, who has now settled down with his now partner Jodie Haydon after bonding over their shared love of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
“Didn’t she slide into your DMs?” Rowe asked.
“Uh, she did send me a little, little message … then I was at another event a couple of weeks later and she was there again,” Mr Albanese replied.
“Then we caught up for a drink at Young Henry’s in Newtown there on a Friday afternoon and we just got on incredibly well.
“And now we’re together and I’m very happy.”
Ms Haydon has previously outlined it wasn’t until Mr Albanese’s car crash in early 2021 that she realised the true extent of her feelings for him.
He laughed as he described a “proof of life” press conference he gave outside Royal Prince Albert Hospital in Sydney where he couldn’t remember exactly what he said due to the “serious painkillers” he was on.
But Mr Albanese insisted the impact of the car accident changed how he approached politics.
“It took me a while and the truth is I was more damaged than I was letting on,” he said.
“Politics is a really tough game and people were looking for signs of, you know, ongoing damage.”
He said following a major reshuffle of his leadership team, he vowed to be “much more relaxed” about things despite the noise telling him he needed to switch up his approach to win the election.
