Cleo Smith’s mother reveals moment she realised daughter had been taken in sneak peek interview

Cleo Smith’s mother revealed the moment she realised her daughter was missing and that the four-year-old is still recovering following her alleged abduction.

Ellie Smith relived the heart-stopping moment alongside her partner Jake Gliddon during the $2million interview with Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes.

The interview is set to air on Sunday while a short segment was teased to audiences on breakfast morning show ‘Today’ on Friday. 

‘I felt like my heart, it told me, she’s not here, she’s not going to run into my arms today,’ Ms Smith said. ‘She’s not going to run down a sand dune. 

‘She was basically nowhere near me. And that was the second I realised someone had her. Someone has her, someone has my baby.’ 

Reporter Tara Brown, who conducted the interview, spoke more about the upcoming segment revealing that Cleo experienced moments of ‘sadness and anger’.

Cleo Smith ‘s mother revealed the moment she realised her daughter was missing and that the four-year-old is still recovering following her alleged abduction 

‘You know, I think it’s a matter of still coming to terms with what they’ve been through and what their daughter has been through,’ she told hosts Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon. 

Cleo, 4, was abducted from her family’s holiday campsite in Carnarvon, WA, on October 16 and found 18 days later just 3km from her family home. 

Cleo’s parents were forced to do their $2million interview with 60 Minutes over video chat due to Western Australia’s hard border. 

Nine won an intense bidding war against Seven, which interviewed Cleo’s parents during the search, and paid $2million for a huge package of content. 

But due to WA’s closed border, Brown was unable to enter the state to sit with the family so instead talked to them over Zoom while film crews recorded both sides of the interview. 

An ad for the interview tried to make it look like Brown was in the same room as the room she sat in had similar colours and what appeared to be photos on a mantlepiece in the background as she spoke.

Nine confirmed the interview was done remotely and said it became standard procedure during the Covid pandemic.

‘We had a crew in WA who filmed the story and Tara spoke to them via Zoom,’ it said.

‘It is how very many TV stories have been done for the past two years of the pandemic.’

Cleo, four, was abducted from her family's holiday campsite in Carnarvon, WA, but was miraculously found 18 days later just 3km from her family home

Cleo, four, was abducted from her family’s holiday campsite in Carnarvon, WA, but was miraculously found 18 days later just 3km from her family home

Due to WA's harsh border restriction interviewer Tara Brown was unable to enter the state to sit with Cleo's family so instead chatted with them over a video call while film crews filmed both ends of the discussion

Due to WA’s harsh border restriction interviewer Tara Brown was unable to enter the state to sit with Cleo’s family so instead chatted with them over a video call while film crews filmed both ends of the discussion

Journalist Neil McMahon called Nine’s interview a ‘costly video call’ in a tweet alongside a screenshot of The Australian’s Media Diary.

‘Nine’s very expensive interview with Cleo Smith’s family? It was done via Zoom due to WA border restrictions! That’s one helluva costly video call,’ he wrote. 

Pearman Media director of strategy and research Steve Allen told News Corp he was shocked at the interview’s steep price.

‘For the family at the reported amount, even under the distressing circumstances, they are now rich beyond their wildest dreams,’ he said.

‘There must have been more than one media outlet chasing this exclusive to go that high. [It] must have been fierce competition.’

Doing the interview remotely upset Nine employees as WA-based reporters were snubbed and the company recently had a series of budget cuts. 

The previous record for amount paid for an interview in Australian history went to two survivors of the Beaconsfield mine disaster, Brant Webb and Todd Russell

The previous record for amount paid for an interview in Australian history went to two survivors of the Beaconsfield mine disaster, Brant Webb and Todd Russell

‘This kind of money could employ not only dozens of journalists but is also enough to run multiple programs,’ one senior television executive told The Australian.

The previous record for amount paid for an interview in Australian history went to two survivors of the Beaconsfield mine disaster, Brant Webb and Todd Russell.

The miners were each paid $1million by Nine for recounting how they survived trapped underground for two weeks in 2006.

Industry sources said the large sum is due to Nine boss Mike Sneesby’s determination to boost ratings after being beat by Seven last year.

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