Merrick Watts has spoken about his “brutal” split from his long-time 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 split in 2009 after more than a decade.
“Rosso and I broke up, we broke up at the end of 2009. It was brutal, it was hard. 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 Head Game podcast on Tuesday.
“I was focused on wanting to follow a certain path that I naturally felt was the right path and that was probably at odds with the way we were doing things and the way we were working together.”
The comedian said he felt like the partnership between him and his partner had come to an end at that point.
Merrick Watts has opened up about the ‘rifts’ between himself and his longtime comedy partner, Tim ‘Rosso’ Ross
“I think we exhausted ourselves as a unit and we did everything, even lived together, and then I had my own family and my priorities were different,” he claimed.
Ant suggested 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 simpler than what it was,” Watts added.
The podcast interview wasn’t the first time Watts had met 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 my entire life.”
Speaking candidly, he said he struggled with anxiety and depression before appearing in the grueling Channel Seven series.
“Rosso and I broke up, we broke up at the end of 2009. It was brutal, it was hard. 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 Head Game podcast on Tuesday.
Ant suggested Watts’ change in priorities was likely due to the arrival of his first son, Wolfe, in 2009
The father-of-two said he was in the “worst mental state” of his life, and not even a psychologist or a 10-week meditation course could help.
“I felt like I was crumbling,” Watts said during an interview with Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa.
‘I did the right things, I spoke to a psychologist, I spoke to my doctor, I took a ten-week meditation course. Nothing worked. I know I had to rebuild my confidence.”
Watts said he knew a stint with SAS Australia would help him “rebuild his confidence”.
“If I’m confident, I’m very capable. When I lack confidence, I go back into my shell… I knew that just the process of preparing 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 ever been in. “I’ve been there all my life.”
He ended with, “It has been extremely good for my mind and my body.”
Watts played in SAS Australia in 2020. Pictured in the show
