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Here’s what former news anchor Jackie Bruno had to say about having it all

“For the first time in my life, I didn’t have a plan. I had no idea what would happen next.”

Jackie Bruno, a former TV news anchor with NECN. Handout via The Boston Globe, File

February 24, 2023

2 minutes to read

At first glance, Jackie Bruno had it all: Two loving kids, several Emmy awards, and a successful career reporting the news in her home state — a lifelong dream.

But as the former TV news anchor revealed in a Boston piece published Thursday, looks aren’t always everything. Bruno opened up in her personal essay about burning out in TV news and shared how taking a much-needed mental health break last year ultimately led to a breakthrough.

“I had tightly choreographed my life, yet being perfectly on point for the better part of two decades had worn me down,” she wrote, adding that she would occasionally come home from work in tears. “I was now a 37-year-old married mom of two rambunctious boys, and the truth was, I wasn’t doing any of my jobs very well anymore.”

The former journalist recalled how the stresses of her job took a toll on her mental health, dating back to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, which she witnessed firsthand while on assignment.

“Eventually, I went to a therapist. As soon as I said, ‘I was at the bombings,’ a PTSD diagnosis was assigned,” Bruno wrote. “This was ‘Big T Trauma,’ the most obvious kind.”

Then there was the “little t trauma,” the kind that builds up over time.

“I watched colleagues get fired, took their phone calls right afterward, and tried to carry on as though nothing had happened,” she wrote. “I lived in constant fear that I would be next. I tried to ease the fear by following the rules, aiming to please, and doing everything right. Yet the reality is, that’s not always enough. Along the way, I developed anxiety and depression.”

Bruno shared that she decided to take a mental-health break last summer after her bosses told her she wouldn’t be able to advance from NECN to a role with NBC Boston.

“For the first time in my life, I didn’t have a plan,” she recalled. “I had no idea what would happen next.”

Quality time with her family, “intense” therapy, and a new career path followed, with Bruno launching Newsmaker Marketing last fall.

“I don’t wish a breakdown on anyone, but I do want people to know that sometimes it’s okay to pause and take a step back,” she wrote. “Sometimes, it is the only way to move forward.”

Read her full essay in Boston.