Since her departure, she has relished claiming back time with her boys, which she says \u201chas been lost\u201d to her previous role. <\/p>\n
Now, her favourite part of the day is getting her 9-year-old twins, Atawhai and Te Manahau, ready for school, something she never got to experience while on Breakfast. <\/p>\n
Jenny-May Clarkson was joined on her last day by her family, including her mum, and twin sons, one of whom held a picture of her late dad.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to send my boys off into the world feeling loved, and I can do that for them now,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
\u201cI tell them how amazing they are, and tell them to have the best day. That seriously means everything.\u201d <\/p>\n
Since the end of her morning television career \u2013 and 3am alarm \u2013 Clarkson admits she\u2019s had her ups and downs. <\/p>\n
\u201cI walked out of the building, and I was happy. I don\u2019t miss any of that at all. I miss the team, but that\u2019s it really,\u201d says the host with a laugh, adding, \u201cI had a good run\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t wish I were back there at all, but I\u2019m grateful for the experience.\u201d <\/p>\n
Jenny-May Clarkson hosted alongside Chris Chang and Daniel Faitaua.<\/p>\n
During that first month off work, Clarkson says self-doubt crept in, and she wondered what she was going to do for an income, putting herself out there for gigs that she didn\u2019t land. But now, things are starting to make sense. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m finding my path at the moment, but it\u2019s going to take a little bit more time for me to continue to create the pathway.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a funny space to sit in. It\u2019s scary, but it\u2019s also really empowering because I\u2019m taking control of what my future looks like.\u201d <\/p>\n
Clarkson says roles are again coming her way, like hosting the daily live one-hour studio show for the nine days the Paralympics run. She will be joined by gold and three-time bronze medallist Steven Bayley and Beijing Paralympic assistant coach Scott Palmer. <\/p>\n
So, when that offer came in from the company that had employed her for more than 20 years, was it an instant yes for the presenter? <\/p>\n
\u201cI had just come out of a funeral service when I got the phone call,\u201d Clarkson reveals. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut you don\u2019t get opportunities like this handed to you, and so while it was a moment of hesitation, the hesitation wasn\u2019t that I didn\u2019t want to do it, the hesitation was just taking a breath to go, \u2018this is what I\u2019ve just experienced, and here\u2019s this amazing opportunity\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I also didn\u2019t hesitate because it was an opportunity, again, to be involved back in sports and back into broadcasting.\u201d <\/p>\n
Clarkson, who got her start at TVNZ as a netball commentator in 2005, says returning to a sports role ironically feels a little like the title of her 2025 book, Full Circle. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m coming back and returning to my roots.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt I\u2019d left sport behind, but now I\u2019m back in the space, it lights me up again. I\u2019m coming back to the realisation that sport is my lane. It\u2019s what I feel really comfortable in.\u201d <\/p>\n
Jenny-May Clarkson played for the Silver Ferns, as well as being the Mystics’ assistant coach. Photo \/ Chris Symes <\/p>\n
The ex-Silver Ferns vice-captain says she\u2019s thrilled to have the opportunity to champion Paralympians, who she calls \u201clegends of sport\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s really important that we see them as athletes and give them that respect. That is the part I\u2019m really focused on when it comes to being part of the broadcast \u2013 the incredible stories and inspiring stories that go along with it. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe dedication, the grit, the determination, pushing boundaries, strength, power, belief, all of those things that come along with watching our amazing para athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clarkson is particularly excited to see para alpine ski racer Corey Peters attempt to defend the gold he won in Beijing in 2022, as well as alpine skier Adam Hall, who will be attending his sixth Paralympics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are once-in-a-lifetime athletes, and we should be incredibly proud of them, no matter what happens,\u201d says Clarkson.<\/p>\n
Clarkson has also been working on growing her new business, which offers confidence courses. She says the work has been deeply rewarding, allowing her to help those struggling with self-doubt.<\/p>\n
Jenny-May Clarkson will lead TVNZ’s Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games coverage. Photo \/ TVNZ<\/p>\n
The broadcaster admits she\u2019s had moments in their shoes, facing sexism, racism and unpleasant social media commentary during her time on screen, which at times knocked her confidence. <\/p>\n
But Clarkson says getting older, maturing and accepting who she is has helped her see comments for what they are. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhere your focus goes, your energy goes. So why would I want to put my energy into comments, into those people and the words that they\u2019re writing about me? The reality for me is that it speaks more about them than it does about me. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am who I am. I\u2019m proud of who I have become and who I am becoming. I\u2019m proud of my whakapapa, where I come from, my family lines. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere might be comments that sting; you do see them, but you don\u2019t sit in it. Because if you do, you\u2019d be afraid to do anything, be yourself or say what\u2019s true to you.\u201d <\/p>\n
Coverage of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games starts on March 7, across TVNZ+ and TVNZ Duke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since her departure, she has relished claiming back time with her boys, which she says \u201chas been lost\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74,7054,9516,18221,118962,59518,12022,90678,2845,7494,118961,3234,111,139,69,161306,1527,6443,213,131,61,6445,39163,23644],"class_list":{"0":"post-308340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-after","9":"tag-breakfast","10":"tag-broadcaster","11":"tag-clarkson","12":"tag-cortina","13":"tag-coverage","14":"tag-host","15":"tag-jennymay","16":"tag-leaving","17":"tag-less","18":"tag-milano","19":"tag-months","20":"tag-new-zealand","21":"tag-newzealand","22":"tag-nz","23":"tag-paralympics","24":"tag-return","25":"tag-returns","26":"tag-sports","27":"tag-than","28":"tag-to","29":"tag-tvnz","30":"tag-tvnzs","31":"tag-winter"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}