Anthony Anderson leaves 6PR to focus on mental health

If you or anyone you know needs support call Lifeline 131 114, or beyondblue 1800 512 348.

6PR’s Breakfast newsreader Anthony Anderson has quit his role and revealed work had become a major mental health trigger for him.

“I decided to quit some weeks ago, hence my absence on air,” he said on Twitter. “I realised I hadn’t been happy for a long time, and while I’ve been receiving treatment for mental health issues, work had become a major trigger for me.”

In a separate tweet, he said he was leaving behind a great news team, and thanked 6PR staff for their help and support over his six years with the station.

On air with 6PR Breakfast hosts Steve Mills and Basil Zempilas, Anderson said he was diagnosed with anxiety and depression last year, and things came to a head a few months ago.

When asked about how work had become a trigger for him, Anderson said: “I think it was just the routine of having to do similar things every day. I’d just been doing it for a while, and perhaps I got a bit bored. And, yea, I found that work was eating up a lot of my time, and I didn’t have time for anything else, and it kind of flowed into my personal life and my home life where everything started to feel like work…. Everything felt like a chore.”

Anderson said he’d had great support since publicly airing his struggles.

Anderson is taking the rest of the year off before trying “something different” in 2021.

Zempilas is leaving the Breakfast program soon due to his election as Lord Mayor of Perth and conflicts with employment at other media outlets. Co-host Mills will move into the Afternoons slot, and Mornings host, Gareth Parker, will take over Breakfast.

If you or anyone you know needs support call Lifeline on 131 114, or beyondblue on 1800 512 348.