Tony Armstrong reveals the real reason he quit ABC Breakfast and how his girlfriend Rona played a big part in his resignation: 'It was killing me'
Tony Armstrong has finally revealed what happened in the lead up to him quitting ABC News Breakfast.
The TV star - widely regarded as the public broadcaster's 'golden boy' - departed his role last October after three years at the network.
Addressing his future career moves during Channel Ten's The Project when he made the announcement, Armstrong revealed he'll be working on 'slower things' compared to the fast-paced newsroom environment.
In a new interview with Ruby Hall for The Inherited Podcast, Tony reflected on how his partner Rona Glynn-McDonald gave him the support he needed to put his health first.
'I decided about halfway through last year that was going to be it for breakfast [TV] because it was killing me,' he explained.
'Literally I ended up staying in bed for a month because I just couldn't get up.'
'I was rostered and I just couldn't get out of bed. Rona was like "Look, your body is telling you that you need to resign."
'And I was like "but I've finally got a job that is secure" and you know what this business is like, it's pretty fickle and I've never really been someone who thinks "I'll be right, I'm established enough to do what I want."
'So Rona helped me get into the right headspace to leave telly. She got me to the line to look after my own health rather than job security, I suppose.
'I'm really proud that we were able to step away and I did that through her help. Vice versa she's stepped away a lot from her not-for-profits to chase her dreams in music. I'm proud of us for navigating how it all works.'
Rona is the CEO of Common Ground, a First Nations not-for-profit organisation that works to amplify First Nations voices, and successful DJ who has performed at some of Australia's biggest music festivals.
Tony and Rona went public with their romance in 2023, and are believed to have been together for three years.
'What a lot of people probably wouldn't realise is I had to write all my own scripts and produce all my own footage,' Tony said as he recalled his earliest days as a fill-in host and producer for ABC Sports Breakfast.
'I was a one-man-band.'
'The thing about news is because it's a 24 hour cycle, you can't prepare. You can't do your work early so you get in there and it's done. You're trying to get to bed early to get up at 3am or 4am.
'I hate mornings with a passion. I just do not like waking up. So those two things don't go together.'
Tony hasn't studied or had any formal training in journalism and described each shift as like 'being on a James Bond travellator' to a 6am deadline.
'I had one day with a producer to teach me how to use [the system] and that was it,' he said.
'So I am most proud of actually just doing the job and not shirking from the stress of doing it.
'I was lucky enough to not s*** the bed and how I was able to parlay that into doing some other things along the way.'
He said he believes his breakfast TV success comes down to two things - not knowing what to do made him a unique voice and he started presenting during the pandemic when most Australians were tuned in for Covid updates.
Tony even confessed he 'really started getting cold feet' in the final days before he handed in his ABC resignation.
The former AFL player told Rona, 'I've worked so hard to get job security and I'm about to walk away from it.'
'Resignations are weird, it's like going to your own funeral,' he joked.
'But I'm learning to be okay with not knowing where the next thing is coming from.'
This month, Tony jumped to rival network SBS to take on hosting duties of the Eurovision Song Contest alongside Aussie drag queen Courtney Act.
He has released his second children's book, George and The Wizard, and is working on an upcoming special project for ABC.
'it's about racism in sport, so a nice light topic,' he joked.
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