A 7News Queensland presenter has opened up about the ‘toughest year’ of her life, which saw her relationship break down just weeks after her mother’s death.
Chief reporter Katrina Blowers was left ‘blindsided’ and ‘nearly broken’ last year when she split from fiancé Adam Yates after a three-year relationship.
What made the separation harder was the death of her mother, Elizabeth Barnes, to motor neurone disease just weeks earlier, reported The Courier Mail on Friday.
‘It has definitely been the toughest year of my life. It nearly broke me, I’m not going to sugar-coat that,’ she told the publication.
‘I had to come to terms with the loss of my mother, but also the loss of a future that I had to recalibrate.’
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7News Queensland presenter Katrina Blowers has opened up about the ‘toughest year’ of her life, which saw her relationship with Adam Yates break down after her mother’s death
Katrina went on to say facing a relationship breakdown while mourning the loss of her mother ‘affected her mental health’ in the most ‘challenging’ way.
The reporter said she was shocked by the split, as she was in the midst of planning her wedding to the former Surfing Queensland CEO, whom she met in 2021.
Katrina said Adam stuck by her side during hospital visits to see her mother, but their romance crumbled following the funeral, less than a year after their engagement.
‘There were things I couldn’t come back from, and I chose to end the engagement. I was completely shocked; it was really tough,’ she said of the break-up.
Now, Katrina has only the remnants of nuptials which never came to fruition, including a wedding dress which she has decided to donate to charity.
Adam popped the question to Katrina in 2023 in an elaborate surprise proposal while on holiday in the Maldives to celebrate his 40th birthday.
The Brisbane-based news anchor was left stunned when Adam got down on one knee beside a pool covered in ‘one million’ rose petals shipped in from India.
Staff are said to have spent ‘the whole day individually peeling the petals off the roses to fill the pool’.
‘It has definitely been the toughest year of my life. It nearly broke me, I’m not going to sugar-coat that,’ she said. Pictured during their engagement in the Maldives in 2023
Adam also proposed with ‘the exact ring’ Katrina had dreamed of—an oval-shaped diamond on a thin gold band.
‘I’m usually pretty alert to clues and things, but he really got me going. It really surprised me,’ Katrina said at the time.
‘I was just blown away. It’s made me feel, honestly, so, so special and the level of thought and attention to detail that he went to is incredible.’
Katrina was previously married to a man named Tom, with whom she shares children Zahra, 17, and Jed, 14.
The pair divorced in 2019 after a 20-year relationship—13 of which were spent in marriage.
