When Kate Langbroek made the decision to take a hiatus and move to Bologna, Italy, with her husband and four kids, she left a gaping hole in her HitFM drive show with Dave ‘Hughesy’ Hughes.

At first it was expected the 54-year-old would return to her co-hosting duties in October, however on Wednesday, Langbroek confirmed that she would be extending her break.

“If you look at my precious year away. [Hughesy] talked me into working the first six months of it, then I would have been coming back to work in October,” she said on air, explaining her decision to Hughesy, 48, and her fill in co-host, Ed Kavalee, 40.

“So my precious year away, which I had to fight tooth and nail to get anyway… I would have ended up having 12 weeks off.”

Mamamia gets in the lift with Dave Hughes, and things get interesting:

Slightly disappointed, Hughesy joked that Langbroek originally informed him, and their producer, Sacha French, of her news via a “Dear John text message,” referring to the term given to breakup letters sent to overseas servicemen by their wives and partners.

“You texted me and Sacha a few weeks ago,” he began, asking French to share Langbroek’s message.

“[It said that] she was sad, that she needed to have her year,” replied French.

Since her departure in January, the media personality has continued to co-host the drive show from her overseas home studio, in spite of an eight hour time difference. In her absence, Kavalee will continue to co-host, with Langbroek set to regularly dial into the show until her permanent return in 2020.

“Of course I am,” she confirmed.

“I love you and I miss you. I do miss you.”

 

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@katelangbroek joined us to clear up the headlines. She will regularly catch up with us on air! ????

A post shared by Hughesy and Kate (@hughesyandkate) on Aug 21, 2019 at 1:27am PDT

Speaking to TV Blackbox, Hit Network’s head of content, Gemma Fordham, said Langbroek was fully supported in her sabbatical.

“Kate is absolutely part of the show! It’s simply in less capacity whilst she has a planned sabbatical with her family” she said.

In an interview with Stellar Magazine, Langbroek said her family was partly inspired to make the move after nearly losing her eldest son, Lewis to leukaemia. The 15-year-old was diagnosed in 2009, and fought the disease for three and a half years.

“Maybe that makes you feel differently about the opportunities you have in life, and the biggest opportunity is the life itself that you have,” she said.

“I would urge anyone who has the tiniest chink of opportunity to put a spanner in there and prise it in there, to make it happen. We have no regrets at this point.

“Life revolves around having something nice to eat, having a rest, enjoying what you’re doing, your family, and enjoying the beauty around you. That’s really it.”

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