'How is this an example for my girls?' Julia Morris on divorcing her husband of 16 years. 

In late 2021, comedian and TV host Julia Morris separated from her ex-husband Dan Thomas after 16 years of marriage. 

Now, she's spoken candidly about the relationship, and what led them to the realisation that it was time for it to amicably end. 

In an interview in the latest edition of Australian Women's Weekly – published via The Courier-Mail – Morris said it got to the point where she had to decide, "I'm not living like this". 

She described the situation as "super sad," but said, "there’s a lot of layers happening at the same time. I’m famous for saying I feel like every year we’re going to break up."

"It definitely gets to that same point, which is that we are just not necessarily growing in the same direction," she said. "And then once you’ve got that in your headspace, the other person starts to become quite a pest.

"I think that’s where patience starts to wear down to, ‘I’m not living like this. How is this an example for my girls that this is an OK life to lead? No thanks.'"

She told the publication she'd learned a lot about herself during therapy, including gaining insight into her "chronic people pleasing". 

"And not speaking my truth, which seems unusual for someone as outspoken as I am. But my need to be liked was deeper than my need to get it right."

Speaking to Fitzy and Wippa in November last year, the I'm a Celebrity host discussed the reality of being single again. 

"It's been 20 years since I was a single lady," she said. 

"And I don't mean going out and picking up. How do you respond to being a single person?" she asked rhetorically.

"I actually think I'm very good at being married."

Fitzy and Wippa joked she could try a dating show, given the long-standing public campaign to get her I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! co-host Dr. Chris Brown to sign up to do The Bachelor.

"There's not anything more enticing than a woman who's nearly mid-50s with teenage children who's been through an intense amount of trauma. I think I could be the lady of his dreams," she joked.

Morris with Dr. Chris Brown. Image: Instagram.

Morris met her husband in the early 2000s, marrying him in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve in 2005. They separated in 2021, with Julia telling Kyle and Jackie O last year that there was nothing "tricky" that led up to the divorce, and the pair split amicably.

"We were just time's up. I was just like, ‘Are we seriously doing this?’ and he was like, ‘I know’,” she shared. “I just think with work and life and definitely raising children, we just got lazy in the end," she explained.

During her chat with Fitzy and Wippa, Morris also joked about her tendency to be 'needy', saying it came down to Thomas's lack of compliments across their marriage. 

"I would frock myself up if we were having a night out and I said f-r-o-c-k frock myself out. I get all ready, I come downstairs and he'd say, 'Are you ready?'," she recalled.

"No wonder I'm so needy. I always do stuff like look in the mirror and be like oh Lady J, you're looking beautiful tonight," she explained.

Listen to Mamamia's daily entertainment podcast, The Spill. Post continues after.

Despite this, Morris has admitted to enjoying the freedom afforded to her by the separation.

“We’re in a good place thank God ’cause I’m hearing horror stories about [divorce] but, my god, the freedom,” she said on The Sooshi Mango Saucy Meatballs podcast.

"I don’t want to brag, but oh, it’s everything you’re dreaming it’s going to be," she jibed.

She also told Kyle and Jackie O that divorce is a "best-kept secret".

"People are like, ‘You look amazing!’ and I’m like, ‘That’s because there’s absolutely nothing going on’,” she said.

“I don’t even think I’ve had an argument in a year. It’s the best of times!”

Morris has had a long-standing comedy career in Australia, and is also well-known for her appearances on Have You Been Paying Attention and her hosting role on I'm A Celebrity!

Morris at the 2022 Logie Awards. Image: Getty.

Away from the spotlight, however, she's a mum to two teenage daughters – Ruby, who was born in 2006, and Sophie, born in 2008. Morris and Thomas continue to co-parent the girls, and she has worked hard to protect their privacy as they grow.

“I just feel like my children’s privacy is not mine to sell or give away,” Morris told Mamamia in 2019. 

“Any other parents making that decision, that is completely up to them and I respect that. But I don’t want anyone approaching my children when I’m not around because they know their faces,” she continued.

“I think it comes under a really weird umbrella of ‘Stranger Danger’ when someone knows a child, knows what they look like, knows where to find them, knows what school they go to... It’s an awful lot of information to put out there about the things most precious to you.

“When things are really crazy, cute, amazing, funny or whatever, it’s hard not to post them and share them. So it’s taken some real effort on my part,” she said.

This story was originally published in November 2022 and has since been updated. 

Feature Image: Getty.