Em Rusciano turns heads in a low-cut purple dress at Melbourne Fashion Week

She stepped away from the spotlight when she left commercial radio back in 2018.

But former 2DayFM host Em Rusciano made a welcome return to the red carpet as she attended Melbourne Fashion Week at Regent Theatre on Monday night, following the city’s long lockdown.

The 42-year-old turned heads in a low-cut vintage-style velvet dress teamed with chic grey heels.

Red carpet return! Em Rusciano turned heads in a low-cut purple dress as she attended Melbourne Fashion Week at Regent Theatre following the city’s long lockdown

The mother-of-three accessorised with pearl and diamante earrings and matched her makeup to her frock.

Earlier this year, Em signed a contract with Spotify Australia to make her popular Emsolation podcast a Spotify Exclusive while still granting her full creative control.

In February, she opened up about her ill-fated stint as breakfast host on 2Day FM.

Purple haze: The 42-year-old stood out in a low-cut vintage-style velvet dress teamed with chic grey heels

In a series of Instagram posts, which have since deleted, she shared her experience of having her tone ‘policed’ during her employment at the radio station.

‘I was constantly told I was angry, I needed to be nicer to people, I needed to smile more and my tone was policed,’ she said.

‘I was under this microscope the whole time. Meetings would be on a screen and if I didn’t smile the whole time, there would be emails about what’s going on with Em.’

Em claimed it was an ‘exhausting’ time made worse by having a miscarriage and being told the format of her show would be changing.

She also alleged her colleagues ‘were leaking bulls**t stories about me’ to the press, and felt there was an overall ‘really toxic work environment’ at the station.

For her part, Em acknowledged her own behaviour at 2Day FM ‘wasn’t great’, but said no one around her was willing to ‘cut me any slack’.

‘I’m still dealing with it all but I feel like I understand it a bit better,’ she concluded.

Em was hired to host 2Day FM’s breakfast show in 2017, alongside Harley Breen.

In September 2018, she announced she was leaving the show in order to focus on having a baby.

Before her departure, multiple reports alleged employees had left 2Day FM and others were looking for new jobs due to Em’s ‘attitude’.

In May 2018, Em herself admitted she could ‘turn’ if she felt slighted by colleagues.

‘Something just goes in my eyes and I become a different person. So I’m not very good at crescendoing my moods,’ she told Wil Anderson’s Wilosophy podcast.

During that same interview, Em also complained about her co-hosts Grant Denyer and Ed Kavalee, who had been drafted in to replace Harley Breen in late 2017.

She said: ‘I, all of a sudden, got two co-hosts that I’d never really met or spoken to, and then I’m expected to have this instant chemistry with.’

Em added that she took a ‘big ego hit’ upon discovering she no longer had top billing on the show.

‘It was just hectic,’ she said. ‘It was The Em Rusciano Radio Show. It was my show, and all of a sudden Ed’s anchoring, the show’s called The 2Day FM Breakfast Show.’