The 48-year-old reporter and her husband, veteran television producer John McAvoy, had been "struggling for quite a while", according to friends.

They had initially separated before the botched 'child recovery' operation in Beirut in April which resulted in Brown and her crew being jailed in Lebanon for two weeks, Woman's Day reported.

The couple have two young children and it is not known if they will have shared custody.

A source told the magazine the marriage was under immense pressure and had deteriorated due to Brown being away constantly on assignment with 60 Minutes. 

"It's hard to keep starting over every time you get back from an extended overseas assignment," the source said.

"This year has been really awful for her."

Brown and her three colleagues, producer Stephen Rice, sound recordist David Ballment and cameraman Ben Williamson, were jailed on kidnapping charges in April after a failed child recovery operation of Brisbane mother Sally Faulker's two young children.

The group spent two weeks behind bars in Lebanon before the Nine Network negotiated their release and they returned to Australia.

Fairfax Media reported that after being freed, the first thing Brown did was to call her husband.

"I had a chance to say hi to John. I was ordered to call home straight away," Brown said at the time.

"Not the kids yet. I can't wait to speak to them obviously, but they have no idea about any of this. It's great to talk to home. It's great to be going home."

According to Woman's Day, McAvoy participated in meetings with other family members and Nine lawyers and executives as they negotiated the crews release.

Yet he was noticeably absent at Sydney Airport to meet his wife when she finally touched down on home soil after her ordeal.

Fairfax Media