Jackie ‘O’ Henderson breaks down as she admits she went to rehab for drug and alcohol addiction when she mysteriously went missing for months from her radio show two years ago

Jackie ‘O’ Henderson has revealed she went to rehab for drug and alcohol addiction.

The radio host, 49, made the tearful revelation while speaking to her co-host Kyle Sandilands on their KIIS FM radio show on Thursday morning.

She admitted she checked into the Betty Ford Clinic in California in November 2022, when she took an extended break from The Kyle and Jackie O Show.

At the time, Kyle told their listeners Jackie was taking a break to ‘focus on her health’ after contracting Covid.

Instead, she was secretly flown out of Australia to be treated for 28 days at the world famous rehab facility for a addiction to painkillers, sleeping pills and alcohol.

At the height of her addiction, Jackie said she took around 10-12 Stilnox sleeping pills and 24 Panadeine Forte a day and would take them while drinking alcohol.

Stilnox users are warned not to drink alcohol as it can slow the respiratory system and make it difficult to wake up. 

Jackie said Betty Ford, which is popular with Hollywood stars, told her not to change ‘anything’ about her usage before arriving so she was still taking the pills the day she flew out to the US.

Jackie ‘O’ Henderson has emotionally revealed she went to rehab for drug and alcohol addiction on the Kyle and Jackie O Show on Thursday

She checked into the Betty Ford Clinic in California in November 2022, when she took an extended break from The Kyle and Jackie O Show (she is pictured in October 2022 with Kyle)

She said she went ‘back and forth’ deciding whether to share the news publicly before detailing 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 detailed the harrowing extent of her addiction battle on Thursday’s radio show. 

‘I was scared to tell people and say this out loud, I know people will look at me differently and love me,’ she told listeners.

‘I was in a really, really dark place.’ 

Jackie admitted she lied by ‘omission’ when she made her 2022 announcement that her long absence from the show was because she was suffering from long Covid. 

‘That’s what the addiction to your brain, it changes your way of thinking, it doesn’t want you to get help, it’s so powerful,’ she tearfully continued.

‘It takes a rock bottom moment to cut yourself off.’

Jackie 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.

‘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 Jackie said she went back to the medication after her 2018 split from UK photographer Lee Henderson, who she shares her daughter Kitty, 13, with.

At the time, Kyle told their listeners Jackie was taking a break to ‘focus on her health’ after contracting Covid. She is pictured just weeks before she went to rehab on October 2022  at the Australian Commercial Radio Awards with her daughter Kitty 

Instead, she was secretly flown out of Australia to be treated for 28 days at the world famous Betty Ford rehab facility (pictured) for a addiction to painkillers, sleeping pills and alcohol 

‘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 confessed.

Jackie said she started taking a few codeine ‘here and there’ and one Stilnox at night after drinking a glass of wine, which she described as a ‘blackout’ situation.

‘You can still be awake and have no idea what’s going on,’ Jackie shared. 

‘It’s like you’re kind of functioning but you have no memory.’ 

However, Jackie said what really ‘kickstarted’ her addiction was isolating at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, when she was ‘struggling’ and felt ‘so sad’.

‘The dosage started to creep up more and more and it got extreme and I was averaging about 24 Panadeine Forte a day and then I was averaging about 10 to 12 Stilnox,’ she shared.

‘Someone was watching over me because I don’t know how I woke up most days with that kind of dosage.’ 

Jackie detailed the moment she realised she had a problem and tearfully told her best friend Gemma O’Neill, who urged her to go to rehab despite her objections in a move she said ‘saved her life’.

She recalled: ‘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”.

At the height of her addiction, Jackie (pictured in August) said she took around 10-12 Stilnox sleeping pills and 24 Panadeine Forte a day and would take them while drinking alcohol

Jackie is pictured with her radio co-host Kyle just weeks before she checked into rehab as they attended the ACRAs in October 2022

‘I said ”don’t be ridiculous, Gemma like that is such overkill. I don’t have a problem that bad that I need to go to Betty Ford”.’

‘And she said no, we’re going and we’re doing it and I thank God she did that,’ Jackie admitted.

‘Thank God there was someone out there like her because I believe she saved my life.’ 

Breaking down in tears, Jackie revealed she asked permission from her daughter Kitty to share her story publicly and praised her for treating her with ‘compassion’.

‘I couldn’t be more proud of my daughter, the way she has been about it has been zero judgement, just compassionate and support,’ she shared.

She said Kitty had ‘no idea’ she was struggling with addiction at the time as she detailed a recent conversation they had when Jackie opened up about her struggles.

Jackie said Kitty knew she wanted to publicly speak about her addiction battle to reduce the ‘stigma’ around drug dependence and ‘normalise’ it for others.

‘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 they can’t get out of,’ she went on.

Jackie said she warned Kitty that her schoolmates might try and talk to her about it, but her daughter bravely said she didn’t want ‘judgemental’ people in her life. 

The presenter bravely apologised to listeners for not revealing her health struggles before and revealed she will be marking two years of sobriety in a matter of weeks. 

‘I want to apologise to our listeners and everyone in my life […] I just needed to concentrate on that part first, that recovery,’ she said.

Jackie’s co-host Kyle shared his support with her during her on-air statement and appeared to have not been previously aware about her rehab stint. 

Just weeks before Jackie’s public statement, Kyle spoke about Jackie’s mysterious two-month absence from their KIIS FM show in November 2022.

Earlier this month, Kyle jokingly claimed Jackie actually took time off to focus on her appearance as he appeared previously unaware of her addiction battle.

The radio hosts were speaking to Abbie Chatfield live on-air about ‘slut-shaming’ comments Kyle made on the air during Jackie’s absence.

‘If Jackie wasn’t away worrying about her own image, then this would never have happened,’ Kyle said.

At the time, Jackie announced she was stepping down from her KIIS radio show for health reasons, but has now revealed she was at Betty Ford.

Jackie, who had been coughing and sounding unwell on air for weeks, said at the time she had been suffering from poor health since contracting Covid-19 a few months prior and needed proper rest to recover.

‘I’ve been not very well ever since I’ve had Covid… I’ve been struggling with this fatigue,’ she told listeners.

‘I just have to take some time off,’ she added. ‘I’m ending the show today. As in now.

She later opened up about the poor state of her mental and physical health. 

‘It was hard to take that time off. I was pushing through but I should have taken it off earlier,’ she told News.com.au in January 2023.

Jackie’s co-host Kyle shared his support with her during her on-air statement and appeared to have not been previously aware about her rehab stint 

‘I just could not push myself any further. I’m glad I took care of my health first because I feel like a million times better.’

She said a tropical holiday in Fiji with her daughter Kitty saw her develop a healthy eating and sleeping routine, which helped with her return to work in January 2023.

‘I started to get into different kinds of exercise like tennis and water aerobics. It is the most amazing exercise and works every muscle in your body,’ she said.

Jackie added it was important for everyone to recognise their limits and take a break when needed to prevent the risk of burn out.

‘Whatever position you’re in, I promise you’ll feel better about yourself when you start making steps towards that healthier lifestyle.’