I saw my best friend Jackie ‘O’ Henderson at the depth of her drug addiction – it was a life or death situation and will haunt me forever
Jackie ‘O’ Henderson’s best friend and manager Gemma O’Neill broke down in tears on Thursday as she revealed her heartbreak at seeing her best friend struggle with drug addiction.
Jackie, 49, made the tearful revelation she secretly checked into the Betty Ford Clinic in November 2022 while reading an extract of her new book to her co-host on their KIIS FM radio show.
Shortly after, Gemma tearfully told Kyle how she helped Jackie, 49, secretly fly to California and check into the world renown facility.
After Jackie admitted her shocking addiction – that she was consuming up to 12 Stilnox sleeping pills and 24 Panadeine Forte tablets daily – Gemma had to act fast.
‘I could see that Jackie was fading away into someone that wasn’t her. I didn’t know how to handle that,’ she said.
‘If you tell one person, then they can help you. And Jackie had the courage to tell me one day. She called me and said, “Gemma, I’m doing something really stupid”.
‘Jackie told me that she had been taking pills. I said, “I’m driving over to your house right now, stay there.” I got there and we had a very traumatic conversation about the reality that was going on. She was a mess.
‘I knew there was no way she was going to get better unless something serious happened. I could tell very quickly it was a life or death situation and I needed to move quickly.
Jackie ‘O’ Henderson ‘s best friend and manager Gemma O’Neill broke down in tears on Thursday as she revealed her heartbreak at seeing her best friend struggle with drug addiction
‘I immediately booked her into Betty Ford [rehabilitation centre]. It was about making sure she got the help she needed, I knew that was the only option. Fortunately, it ended up being a really successful program.
Jackie jumped in and thanked Gemma for ‘never leaving my side’ during her darkest hour, and getting her the help she needed.
‘Thank God I had you. I will forever be grateful for what you did for me,’ an appreciative Jackie said.
At the time of Jackie’s trip to the US to go to rehab, Kyle told listeners Jackie was taking a break to ‘focus on her health’ after contracting Covid.
Jackie said staff at Betty Ford, which is popular with Hollywood stars, told her not to change ‘anything’ about her usage before arriving as it could be ‘dangerous’ so she was still taking the pills the day she flew out to the US.
She said she went ‘back and forth’ deciding whether to share the news publicly before detailing the extent of her addiction in her upcoming memoir The Whole Truth, slated for release on October 29.
Ahead of the book’s release, Jackie broke down in tears as she spoke for the first time about the harrowing extent of her addiction battle.
Jackie, 49, made the tearful revelation she secretly checked into the Betty Ford Clinic in November 2022 while reading an extract of her new book to her co-host on their KIIS FM radio show
‘I could see that Jackie was fading away into someone that wasn’t her. I didn’t know how to handle that,’ Gemma said
‘I was scared to tell people and say this out loud, I know people will look at me differently. I was in a dark place,’ she told listeners.
Jackie admitted she lied by ‘omission’ when she made her 2022 announcement that her absence from her job was because she was suffering from Covid.
She said her struggles first began more than 15 years ago when she was prescribed a strong opioid painkiller for endometriosis – a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus, causing severe pain.
Jackie thanked Gemma for ‘never leaving my side’ during her darkest hour, and getting her the help she needed
Betty Ford is a nonprofit residential treatment clinic for people battling substance dependence located in Rancho Mirage, California.
It has been a favourite rehab facility for many Hollywood stars over the years, including Elizabeth Taylor, Gary Busey, Johnny Cash and Lindsay Lohan.
The clinic was founded by former First Lady Betty Ford in 1982 and is situated in Rancho Mirage, near Palm Springs in California.
It is world famous for its tough attitude towards rehabilitation as well as its strict regime.
It offers inpatient, outpatient and residential day treatment for alcohol and drug addiction and has 100 inpatient beds available on their site.
In 2014, the Betty Ford Center merged with Hazelden Foundation to form the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, and it opened an additional outpatient treatment clinic in West Los Angeles the following year.
Betty Ford is a residential rehab for people battling substance dependence in Rancho Mirage, California and has been visited by Hollywood stars including Johnny Cash and Lindsay Lohan
