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Grant Denyer - "I could have killed myself."

This TV star says that the pressure of his dream job nearly finished him off.

He was the perky and flamboyant weather man on Sunrise for years but Grant Denyer, 36, now says his dream job almost killed him. The popular TV personality started on Sunrise in 2004 as a weather reporter and later as a roving reporter but he now admits that while he loved his job his health just couldn’t keep up.

He told News Ltd that medical tests showed his organs were “running at seven per cent”. “I just pushed too hard, too long. I did that at the toll of myself and my family. It was a juggernaut that I couldn’t stop.”

Grant Denyer with three-year-old daughter Sailor.

After his healthy finally deteriorated severely, particularly in those last two years, Denyer reached a point where he was sleeping for 23 hours a day and could barely do his job. “They’d stand me up on camera, they’d wake me up in between crosses and put me in front of the camera and count me in."

So he made a tough choice to leave his job for the sake of his health and his family, taking time out to recuperate before considering further opportunities. He left Sunrise last June and Million Dollar Minute in November.

I didn’t want to let Seven down, but I was. I did a year too long on Sunrise and paid a big price for it physically. I was very ill, very medically ill, just so tapped out and empty.  I didn’t want to walk away, I promised them I’d do another year. They asked me to do another year on Sunrise and I agreed to it but I didn’t feel like I should. I wanted to, but I could have killed myself. It was a big toll on my family. I didn’t see the warning signs. I thought I was invincible and I f***ed up.

Then another low point for Denyer and his family earlier this year when claims were made that he had entered a rehabilitation clinic in Thailand for treatment for drug addiction. He and his wife Cheryl Rogers deny the claims, saying he sought treatment for "chronic fatigue due to exhaustion", not substance abuse.

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Grant Denyer is now the host of Family Feud on Network Ten.

His new gig, hosting Family Feud on Network Ten, has much more family-friendly hours and leaves him plenty of time to spend with his family. Denyer and Rogers have a three-year-old daughter, Sailor, who features heavily on her dad's Twitter feed and is clearly the apple of his eye.

Of his decision to return to TV, Denyer says, “I love telly, that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. It feels good, it makes me happy.”

“Now that I’ve had a chance to have a break and I’m healthier and stronger and happier again, everything is a bit more measured. "So I just have to be careful that I don’t make that mistake again because I’m a workaholic."

Images courtesy of Grant Denyer Twitter.

Has you or your partner ever had to make a career change for the sake of your family and your health?

Grant Denyer has an adorable reason to priortise his family and his health. Click through these photos of this proud dad with his daughter Sailor and wife Chezzi:

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Grant Denyer is reported pursuing legal action against a magazine for this story.

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