SAS Australia: Jana Pittman recalls how she was once so poor she could barely feed her children

SAS Australia’s Jana Pittman recalls how she was once so poor she could barely feed her children and felt she’d ‘completely screwed up their lives’


She’s one of the toughest recruits on this season of SAS Australia.

But on Thursday, Olympian Jana Pittman, 38, revealed a more vulnerable side to her character as she explained how she once struggled so much financially she barely had enough money to feed her children.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, the mother-of-four said she had to ask her 70-year-old parents for help after she ‘didn’t calculate her funds properly’ and was hit with a ‘huge tax bill’ when changing her career from an athlete to a doctor.

Struggles: On Thursday, Olympian Jana Pittman, 38, revealed a more vulnerable side to her character as she explained how she once struggled so much financially she barely had enough money to feed her children. Pictured with two out of her four children, Emily and Jemima

‘I remember literally breaking down in my room thinking, “I have completely screwed up my kids’ lives”,’ she said, adding that she even put her house on the market but it failed to sell.

‘We literally went to baked beans on toast and Devon sandwiches at one point, and going over to Mum and Dad’s to steal a meal,’ she continued.

Jana said that she felt shame asking her mother and father for help, in her mind thinking she ‘had failed quite miserably on my financial and parental responsibilities.’

'I remember literally breaking down in my room thinking "I have completely screwed up my kids' lives",' she said, adding that she even put her house on the market but it failed to sell. Pictured on SAS Australia

‘I remember literally breaking down in my room thinking “I have completely screwed up my kids’ lives”,’ she said, adding that she even put her house on the market but it failed to sell. Pictured on SAS Australia 

While it’s not known exactly when her financial trouble occurred, Jana graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 2019.

Despite the dark period, everything eventually worked out for the track and field star – who now works as a doctor in the emergency department at Sydney’s Blacktown Hospital.

‘I had just been so gung-ho ho with this goal of becoming a doctor, but I hadn’t put my ducks in a row as well as I thought,’ she concluded.

Children: Two of Jana's children, daughters Emily, six, and Jemima, four, were born via IVF and an anonymous sperm donor. She also has a 14-year-old son, Cornelis, from her marriage to her first husband and former coach, Chris Rawlinson. Pictured at her graduation in 2019

Children: Two of Jana’s children, daughters Emily, six, and Jemima, four, were born via IVF and an anonymous sperm donor. She also has a 14-year-old son, Cornelis, from her marriage to her first husband and former coach, Chris Rawlinson. Pictured at her graduation in 2019 

Jana and her husband Paul Gatward welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Charles, last year. 

First-time father Paul, who prefers to stay out of the media spotlight, married Jana in a private ceremony just a few months before she gave birth. 

Two of Jana’s children, daughters Emily, six, and Jemima, four, were born via IVF and through an anonymous sperm donor. 

She also has a 14-year-old son, Cornelis, from her marriage to her first husband and former coach, Chris Rawlinson.

SAS Australia continues Monday at 7:30pm on Channel Seven

Career change: Jana swapped her running spikes for a stethoscope to pursue her dream job as a doctor. She now works as a doctor in the emergency department at Sydney’s Blacktown Hospital

Career change: Jana swapped her running spikes for a stethoscope to pursue her dream job as a doctor. She now works as a doctor in the emergency department at Sydney’s Blacktown Hospital

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