Now, Ms Eva has faced her demons head on in her debut book, Why Wouldn't Ya?, a self development-cum-comedy in the same vein as bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k.
Ms Eva grew up in a working class family in Tatura, and attended school in Mooroopna and at McGuire College in Shepparton.
Before making her big break in radio and television, her early jobs included working at Shepparton's Telstra store and as a door girl at a local nightclub.
“Growing up in Shepparton and Tatura, the Goulburn Valley was such an honest, down-to-earth, hardworking, wonderful place,” she said.
“It's the perfect place to bring up a family because it teaches you these hardworking values to appreciate everything you have in life . . . an honest day's work is really valuable.”
Co-host of Triple M's Moonman in the Morning and a regular on Seven's The Latest, Ms Eva still describes herself, unashamedly, as a "compulsive f**k-up".
Prone to overthinking and a chronic worrier, she eventually came to the conclusion "there had to be more to life than just existing".
“I couldn't enjoy the time with my children, because you're overthinking something or you're worried that your life isn't going anywhere or you're worried that your partner isn't loving you,” she said.
“And you're thinking, `what the hell am I doing?'
“So I just wanted a way to create more emotional energy to enjoy life.”
In response, Ms Eva spent three years researching why negative thought patterns could begin to take hold, and exploring religious and scientific responses to breaking the cycle.
The result is "like a shortcut of everything that's out there": a book carrying all the tools that emotionally saved Ms Eva and allowed her to take back control of her life.
“We think that we are bad parents, we think we're bad friends, you know, I've walked into social situations and you're like `everybody hates me’," she said.
“And you would think this on a day-to-day basis.
“But it turns out that rather than actually being the things that we are, it's a really bad habit that we've created for ourselves that has spiraled into self-hatred . . . it's a neurological pathway in our brain.”
Many of the intimate - and hilarious - stories Ms Eva shared in the book were taken from her time in the Goulburn Valley, when she was still figuring out who she wanted to be.
A 40°C Christmas Day spent in a shed beside some fish bait waiting for a Shepparton ex-boyfriend who never showed up, was a personal favourite.
And while unloading her innermost stories to the world made her "want to vomit,” Ms Eva said it was cathartic, too.
“We are all humans,” she said.
“And I feel like in this narrative of trying to improve ourselves, we compare ourselves to the author.
“But the only person in life that can validate you is yourself.”
If nothing else, Ms Eva hoped the book would make her a friend or two.
“I would like people to finish the book and then if I saw them up the street, they'd feel like we could go for a beer,” Ms Eva said.
“So if you see me at Tatura Bakery or anything, just say ‘hi’, we'll have a pie.”
Why Wouldn't Ya? is out now via Pan Macmillan Australia.
19°C