Radio stars David ‘Hughsey’ Hughes and Erin Molan have spoken out about a “horrific” fight that led Molan to leave their radio show halfway through their timeslot.
On the airwaves on Tuesday, Hughes and Molan, from 2DAY FM’s Hughesy, Ed & Erin, recalled the event, which happened during their final show of 2023.
“I gave you some tough love at the end of last year, didn’t I, Erin?” Hughesy said on Tuesday.
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“Yes, it was horrific,” Molan responded, “I sobbed like a baby.”
Hughsey told listeners the incident took place on a day when they were all looking forward to the Christmas holidays and were in “a really good mood”.
Molan retorted: “No one was whistling or in a good mood, that’s such an exaggeration.”
“No, they were (in a good mood) before you came, they were,” Hughesy said, adding, “Well, we’re revisiting (the situation)! You wanted to revisit it!”
Molan corrected her co-host, saying she did not want to revisit the event, but gave him permission to do so if he wished.
She then went on to explain that 2023 had been a “tough” year for her personally.
Molan’s father, Liberal senator Jim Molan, died in January last year, aged 72, following a battle with prostate cancer.
“I was down, look it was a tough year, OK? Last year was a tough year, do you want me to bring it up?” she said on the air on Tuesday.
“My dad died, OK? It was a tough year.
“I know your mum died too,” she then said, acknowledging that Hughes’ mother had also passed away in 2023.
Molan conceded she had gone to work on the day of the radio team’s final show of 2023 “not over the top, bubbly happy”.
“I was definitely a bit negative. Yeah, I wasn’t in a good place,” she said.
She went on to say that, during an ad break early on in that show, Hughsey “just lost it” with her.
“You’d lost it with me, I think is a fair way to say it?” she said.
“I didn’t quite like the method, but it was very tough love.
“You screamed at me to see a psychologist, which I’ve been doing, and that was really mean.
“But I also was able to walk away from it and go, okay, I actually have a responsibility when I come in in the morning, even if I don’t feel great, to not bring everyone else down.”
After the team broke for the holidays, Molan said she thought a lot about the encounter and was “quite upset” about it.
She said Hughsey sent her a message about a topic unrelated to the argument, to defuse the tension, but did not apologise.
“But I wasn’t sorry. Honestly I wasn’t,” Hughsey said on Tuesday.
“I was happy that it happened, honestly, and you have been so much better, like you’ve been really good, like as in, focused.”
Molan conceded the “tough” conversation had been necessary, but called out the way Hughsey had approached it.
“I think the way in which it was done, in front of everyone, was probably… I would have preferred it to have been done differently, if we’re being completely honest,” she said.
Hughsey said only “a couple of people” had heard the argument, but Molan said it was “humiliating”.
The conversation on Tuesday ended with the hosts now able to laugh about the incident.
“I’m mature enough to acknowledge there was some merit in what you were saying, absolutely,” Molan remarked.
“But your methods sucked.”
“See, that’s tough feedback for me!” Hughesy said.
