Former Sunrise star Talitha Cummins reveals her family’s surprising reaction to her quitting journalism to launch a jewellery business

Former Sunrise newsreader Talitha Cummins has no regrets about leaving her journalism career behind, even though it changed her family dynamic.

The 43-year-old announced last week that she was closing the door on journalism for good to focus on her newly launched jewelry business.

Reiterating my point in this week’s issue Stellar magazineCummins said she was excited to enjoy her second career after spending the last few years as a wife and mother after leaving Channel Seven.

“The other night I was going through the section on my phone with photos from throughout my career,” she said.

“And I thought, well, this is the end. I’m moving on with Career 2.0, moving from journalism to a whole new industry, and it couldn’t be further from that.’

Tabitha said her ex-husband, NRL star Beck Lucas, now helps with household chores at home so she can grow her business, but the couple’s two children remain skeptical of their mother’s new venture.

“Kids keep saying, ‘Why are you doing this?’ And I say, ‘Well, I still feel like there are things I want to accomplish,'” she explained.

“I’m actually quite ambitious and quite driven and I needed some way to channel that energy.”

The former Weekend Sunrise reporter, 43, announced on Monday that she is leaving the media industry for good to focus on her jewelery business.

Taking to Instagram, the mother-of-two uploaded a gallery featuring several throwback photos of herself presenting the news on Weekend Sunrise alongside Edwin Bartholomew, Mark Barrett and Simon Reeve.

“Today is a big day for me,” she began her caption, adding, “I’m officially ending my 20-year career in journalism/television + media consulting and launching my own diamond and jewelry creation business.”

“It’s a big shift, but the transition to starting my own business has given me energy and drive like never before.”

Cummins explained that her family has been making diamond jewelry for 50 years, and that she started her business in collaboration with her uncle and cousin.

She went on to say that her brand will help “disrupt the market” by using lab-grown diamonds instead of real ones.

“When I went to the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) to study diamond grading in London, we were handed a lab-grown and mined diamond and asked to use a microscope to distinguish between them. We couldn’t,” she wrote.

“We found out that they are indistinguishable because they are chemically, physically and visually the same.” They shine in the same way as they are made of the same substance. Pure carbon. I was fascinated.’

“Exactly the same product, much lower price.” The business was born that day. I am excited to be a part of what is proving to be the biggest disruptor in the jewelry industry. I would like you to follow me on this new adventure.’

Cummins joined the Seven network in 2004 and went on to work as a reporter and weather presenter in several of the network’s Queensland bureaus.

She moved from Queensland to New South Wales in 2011 and was appointed reporter for Seven News Sydney, before replacing Jessica Rowe as news anchor on Weekend Sunrise in 2014.

However, Cummins left Seven in early 2017 while on maternity leave.

At the time, she claimed she was unfairly dismissed. Cummins later reached a confidential settlement with the Seven network.

Most recently she worked as a newsreader on Triple M Sydney.

In October last year, Cummins hit the headlines after speaking candidly about her sobriety, revealing that she decided to give up drinking after missing a weekend of work.

At the height of her alcoholism, she would consume four bottles of wine a night.

Speaking with Daily Telegraph at the time, Cummins said she tried ‘many times’ to quit drinking before getting sober a decade ago.

“My chief of staff sat me down after I didn’t show up for work on the weekend and just said, ‘You’re not okay, are you?’ and I just said ‘no.’ My work facade collapsed. Everyone knew,” she said.

Although she admitted it was ‘hard at times’, the Gold Coast-born presenter said she ‘can’t help’ but think what she would be missing out on if she continued to drink.

“I have a great husband and two kids,” she said.

‘The chaotic life I led would never have allowed me to do that… When you drink a lot, you tend to hang around people who might not be good for you.’

She added that she now has the “ability to peel back the layers in therapy” and that there is “freedom” in “understanding why she does the things she does.”

“I’m retiring now.” I don’t rely on alcohol for confidence, so I’ve really had to develop myself.’