Merrick Watts has spoken about his ‘brutal’ split with his longtime comedy partner, Tim ‘Rosso’ Ross.
‘Merrick and Rosso’ were best known for their radio shows on Triple J, Nova, and Triple M, but the comedy duo shocked their listeners when they parted ways in 2009 after over a decade together.
‘Rosso and I fractured, we split up at the end of 2009. It was brutal, it was tough. It’s not really something I talk about a lot…but it was really devastating at the time,’ he told SAS Australia host Ant Middleton on his podcast Head Game on Tuesday.
‘I was focused on wanting to follow a certain trajectory that I felt innately was the right way to go and that was probably in conflict to the way we were doing things and the way we were working together.’
The comedian said he felt the collaboration between himself and his partner had run its course at the time.
Merrick Watts has opened up about the ‘fracturing’ between himself and his longtime comedy partner, Tim ‘Rosso’ Ross
‘I think we just exhausted ourselves as a unit and we’d done everything, we’d even lived together, and then I got my own family and got different priorities,’ he claimed.
Ant suggested that Watts’ change in priorities was likely due to the arrival of his first son, Wolfe, in 2009.
‘I kind of wanted to forge my own identity…which I thought would be a lot easier than what it was,’ Watts added.
The podcast interview wasn’t the first time Watts encountered Ant, as the pair first met on SAS Australia in 2020.
Watts said Middleton helped him achieve ‘the best physical and mental state I’ve been in in my entire life’.
Speaking candidly at the time, he said he struggled with anxiety and depression before making the appearance on the gruelling Channel Seven series.
‘Rosso and I fractured, we split up at the end of 2009. It was brutal, it was tough. It’s not really something I talk about a lot…but it was really devastating at the time,’ he told SAS Australia host Ant Middleton on his podcast Head Game on Tuesday
Ant suggested that Watts’ change in priorities was likely due to the arrival of his first son, Wolfe, in 2009
The father-of-two said he had been in the ‘worst mental state’ of his life, and not even a psychologist or 10-week meditation course could help.
‘I felt like I was chipping away,’ Watts said during an interview with Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa.
‘I did all the right things, I spoke to a psychologist, I spoke to my doctor, I did a 10-week meditation course. Nothing was working. I know that what I needed was to rebuild my confidence.’
Watts said he knew that going on SAS Australia would help him feel more confident.
‘When I’m confident I’m very, very capable. When I’m not confident I go back into my shell… I knew that just the process of getting ready for SAS Australia would be enough to rebuild my confidence and I was right,’ he explained.
‘I look at myself, a year ago and when I signed up for this show I was in the worst mental state I’ve ever been in. I look at myself a year later and I’m in the best physical and mental state I’ve been in in my entire life.’
He finished: ‘It’s been extraordinarily good for my mind and my body.’
Watts starred on SAS Australia in 2020. Pictured on the show
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