As far as break-up stories go, most are told long after the storm has passed. With the fullness of time come tales of hope, nuggets of wisdom and lessons learned, perhaps even a new partner to debut. But for Samantha Hayes, who went through a heartbreaking separation from the man she thought she was going to spend her life with in the middle of 2023, the dust is only just beginning to settle.
Six months on, she’s still figuring things out for her and her children, Marlow, four, and Amaya, two, as she adjusts to a future that looks very different to the one she’d imagined.
“I don’t have any epiphanies to share yet,” she says, sitting down to chat over a long black at an Auckland café near the Newshub studios, where she has presented the flagship news programme for more than seven years.
“I’d love to say I’ve come through the other side and that I’m starting the new year happier than ever, but that wouldn’t be honest. I’m definitely feeling stronger and I’ve learnt a lot, but I’m still putting myself back together.”
It might have been easier for Sam, 39, to turn up today with a plasteredon smile, pretend she’s fine and tell us she’s embracing new beginnings. But she wants to be real about it. Yes, she’s had heartbreaks before, but separating from the man to whom she was engaged to marry, the father of her children, has been the hardest thing she’s ever faced. Single and co-parenting is a surprise she hadn’t seen coming, and for the self-confessed perfectionist, accepting defeat in her personal life has been a bitter pill to swallow.
“I’ve never been comfortable with failure and yet here I
