Jackie ‘O’ Henderson has floored her radio co-star Kyle Sandilands with the shocking confession that she has been to rehab for drug and alcohol addiction.
The 49-year old mum made the admission live on their KIIS FM show, telling Kyle and listeners that her best friend Gemma O’Neill, “saved her life” by persuading her to check into the Betty Ford Clinic in California in 2022.
At the time, she explained her two-month absence from The Kyle and Jackie O Show by saying she needed a break after suffering Covid.
But instead of resting and focusing on her health, Jackie was actually secretly flying to the States where she checked into the facility, a favourite for Hollywood stars, and was treated for an addiction to painkillers, sleeping pills and alcohol.
The radio host tearfully explained that at the height of her addiction, she was taking around 10-12 Stilnox/Zolpidem sleeping pills and 24 Panadeine Forte a day and would take them while drinking alcohol.
“Someone was watching over me because I don’t know how I woke up most days with that kind of dosage,” she said.
Stillnox users are told not to drink alcohol while taking the pills as it can slow the respiratory system and make it difficult to wake up.
She went on to explain how her struggle began over 15 years ago when she was prescribed strong opioid painkiller for endometriosis, a condition that causes severe abdominal pain.
“I got prescribed that and I found myself at the time taking it more than I needed and I recognised that this might be a bit of a problem, so I stopped at the time,” she said.
But after her 2018 split with husband Lee Henderson, with whom she shares 13-year old daughter Kitty, she started dipping into the pills to dull the pain of the situation.
“I went back to it as a way to kind of go to some happy please, and it was a way of escaping and it was so the wrong thing to do,” she explained.
Things went from bad to worse during the pandemic lockdowns when, alone and isolated at home, Jackie says she turned to the pill and alcohol mix to relieve how “sad” she was feeling.
It was only when the dosage had crept up to its height that she recognised she might have a problem. It was then she confided in her friend Gemma.
“It came to a head and [Gemma] was such a great friend. She said ‘I’m sorry Jackie, but you’re not going to taper off this, it will never work. I’m checking you into rehab at the end of the week and we’re going’”.
Despite Jackie’s objections, Gemma stood firm and made it happen.
“Thank God there was someone out there like her because I believe she saved my life,” Jackie confessed.
Speaking before her memoir, The Whole Truth is released on 29 October, Jackie went on to say she’d struggled with whether to open up about her addiction battle.
“I was scared to tell people and say this out loud, I know people will look at me differently,” she told listeners.
But with her daughter’s blessing she decided to go ahead and share what she’s been going through.
At the time, Kitty didn’t know what was going on but the pair have since had frank conversations and Jackie explained why it was important for her to go public.
“I said to Kitty, ‘I feel there are so many people out there who have different kinds of addictions that are stuck in this place’,” Jackie said.
Speaking out meant she could potentially reduce the “stigma” around drug dependence and “normalise” it for others.
Kyle was audibly shocked by the confession and said he was “embarassed” to have sat opposite her every day, not knowing.
“You’re just so anti-drug, that’s the shock of it, you have never been the party girl, you were never that,” he said.
He wasn’t the only one, and Jackie read from her memoir which details how the reason for her absence was a secret from all her colleagues.
“The whole team wishes me well, I’m sure they’re curious about my temporary leave of absence, but none of them really knows why I’m stepping back,” she read. “But it has to be this way.”
The segment ended on a high though, and Jackie revealed that she is about to celebrate two years of sobriety.
