Rebecca Madden: I've always been around men who support my career pursuits

My dad, Graeme, has always been an active and motivated person. My earliest memories are of him coming back from a very early morning run, training for a marathon. I would be at the kitchen table eating my breakfast and he would walk through the house dripping with sweat in his running gear. He worked as a car salesman and owned a dealership.

My mum, Wendy, and he divorced when I was two. They had three children together. I have two older brothers, Paul and Anthony. Mum, who worked as a hairdresser before she had kids, married my stepfather, Rex Gorell, when I was four and I gained three stepbrothers, Paul, Brett and Jason. I have been surrounded by boys all my life.

I had two dads, essentially, growing up and it's worked out okay. Mum and Dad made sure their split wasn't acrimonious. They had fallen out of love, but they still loved us and made sure we got to spend time with both of them.

I lived on a farm with mum in Ceres, just outside of Geelong. Dad remained in Geelong until I was a teenager and then moved to Melbourne. He would always take me on adventures. He's not one to sit still.

He'd clap his hands and ask, "Becky, what are we doing today?" We'd do everything from a six-day horse riding adventure to a trip to Fraser Island.

I got my work ethic from my step-dad. He has been a great influence. He taught me to ride a horse when I was four and to put my head down and be a hard worker. I have carried that philosophy through my life. He is a driven person and provides very good counsel.

My brother Anthony and I would fight like cats and dogs, but he's the one I was closest to as a kid. He's eight years older and a really quick-witted funny person – he'd have been great on radio.

I've learnt that boys like to do things with their friends. Our house was always filled with a posse of boys following my brothers around. Whether it was playing footy or our family hosting a big rowing dinner, there were boys always staying over. I realised early on that guys like to be flanked by a few mates at all times.

My first kiss happened in kindergarten when I was about four. There was a boy I used to catch the minibus with, and he had a bunch of flowers wrapped in foil for the teacher but decided to give them to me instead. I'm sure I pecked him on the cheek.

Mum sent me to an all-girls school, Morongo Girls' College, probably as an attempt to balance out the male situation at home. I never felt I had to fight to be heard, though. Growing up on a farm meant I would ride horses and motorbikes, and get up at 6am to feed horses. I wasn't that girly but not that fixated on boys, either. Growing up I had posters of horses on my walls, not celebrity heartthrobs.

I've never been on a date in my life. It's always just happened. I'd be at a party and kiss a boy and then we'd be boyfriend and girlfriend. I've always had long-term boyfriends since I was 16. Mum wasn't so keen on the idea of the first one as the guy was two years older than me and I was still in year 10.

I've always gone for a similar sort of guy. I haven't had a rogue boyfriend, to be honest. The guys have always been very kind, always liked to have fun, had to be active and be involved in sport.

I have no regrets about any relationship I have been in and that includes my first marriage [in 2006] to James Wilson. You take something away from each relationship experience. If it doesn't work out, for whatever reason, you learn and grow from it. You can't force situations to work.

My husband, Trent Miller, is a dreamboat. We married three years ago and he's the one who encouraged me to take on the role with The AFL Footy Show. He's very involved in my career and I like that. He's a TV cameraman and his father was a news director at channels Ten and Seven. After growing up in the business, he's very understanding of the pressures and environment I work in.

We live a quiet life. We work hard and he travels a lot for work. He has a different personality to me. He is calm, level, understanding and methodical about things. It's a great balance to me.

Being on The Footy Show is like I've inherited a new set of brothers! The show has taught me that men are just the way they have always been. What you see is what you get. They don't change when I'm in the room. Men like to keep things simple. They don't talk in circles and over-analyse like women do. They aren't interested in the whys, ifs and buts – they are straight talkers.

I probably swear far too much now and I can blame all the men I work with for that! Much to my mum's horror, I might drop a swear word and I'll say it's the boys' fault.

Rebecca Maddern is a co-host of The AFL Footy Show and the host of Australian Ninja Warrior, both on Channel 9.