After ruling the airwaves for more than 20 years, Jackie âOâ Hendersonâs career in âshockâ radio ended with odd formality on Tuesday â her exit from KIIS FM Sydneyâs longârunning Kyle and Jackie O Show formalised in a dry ASX announcement.
As the country reacts to the bombshell that Henderson walked away from a recordâshattering $100million contract, the question now is what really happened behind closed doors during her tense twoâweek standoff with ARN.
While rumours of Hendersonâs professional frustration had been swirling for months, the beginning of the end came on Friday, February 20, when Kyle Sandilands â her abrasive broadcast partner of more than two decades â slammed her âfixationâ with astrology and said it was affecting her work, forcing her out of the studio in tears.
The public hasnât heard anything directly from Henderson since â only a second-hand quote in ARNâs stock market update that she had informed them she âcannot continue to work with Mr Kyle Sandilandsâ.
But a Daily Mail reporter spoke with Henderson on Tuesday, just hours before her exit was formally announced, as we were tailing her for photos.
She had travelled from her eastern suburbs mansion to Newtown, in Sydneyâs inner west, where she visited a wellness studio just off bustling King St with a friend, Steve Cordony, an interior designer she met through their mutual friend Pip Edwards.
Radio presenter Jackie âOâ Henderson spoke to the Mail hours before her $100million radio deal with ARN was terminated
Henderson broke down in tears on February 20, when Sandilands â her on-air partner of more than two decades â slammed her âfixationâ with astrology and said it was affecting her work
When the Daily Mail spoke to Henderson outside the wellness studio Frequency Lab in Newtown, in Sydneyâs inner west, on Tuesday afternoon, she put on a brave face
Despite the meteoric news that was about to drop, Henderson put on a brave face, forcing a smile and declaring, âGood! Iâm good!â as she left a sound healing session.
Dressed in a white sundress and sporting a full face of makeup and what appeared to be a fresh blow-dry, the mother of one confirmed her session was âvery goodâ.
Perhaps tellingly, she alluded to âhealingâ in the wake of the bruising incident with Sandilands.
â[Iâm] feeling healed. Yes, healing,â she said while making a beeline for her black SUV.
When asked when she would be back on-air, Henderson remained coy, saying: âI canât really say anything on that front at this point. Iâm sorry.â
Pressed on whether sheâd spoken to Sandilands since storming off air in tears, she looked momentarily alarmed, ducked into her car and drove away.
Since the February 20 incident, insiders claim Henderson and Sandilands had only been communicating via text message, ARN management, or through their respective talent representatives, Gemma OâNeill and Bruno Bouchet.
The âsound medicineâ class Henderson and Cordony had attended was called Empower: Dynamic Fire Element, a 90-minute experience that costs $75 per person.
âGood! Iâm good,â she told us as she was leaving a sound healing session
Tellingly, she alluded to âhealingâ in the wake of the incident with Sandilands
When asked when she would be back on-air, Henderson remained coy, saying: âI canât really say anything on that front at this point.â Her permanent exit was confirmed hours later
Pressed on whether sheâd spoken to Sandilands since storming off air in tears, she looked momentarily alarmed, ducked into her car and drove away
According to Frequency Labâs website, the class is âa shamanic journey that stimulates life force and action by awakening our inner fire and warrior archetypeâ.
Students âown their inner warriorâ as they lie on waterbeds while listening to the sound of drums, didgeridoo, gongs and âtranscendental voice activationsâ.
Henderson has long been a fan of alternative therapies, which dovetails with her interest in astrology â an interest Sandilands expressed contempt for on air.
Her clash with Sandilands was sparked by a remark she had made about Andrew MountbattenâWindsor after she began reading out his astrology chart on air in response to news of his arrest â a moment that prompted her co-host to lash out and accuse her âfixationâ with astrology of making her âalmost unworkableâ.
Before Tuesdayâs ASX announcement, Sandilands said on the radio that Henderson would return to the airwaves âat some stageâ, but didnât provide a timeframe.
He told newsreader Brooklyn Ross he had to sign off on an upcoming statement from his co-star, which teased âgood newsâ.
âI did get some good news though yesterday,â he said.
âAnything thatâs got my name on it, I have to sign off on it, so I signed off yesterday on some sort of statement coming from Jackieâs camp.
âThe only thing I noticed is that Jackie will be returning in the future. So thatâs a good sign. So, the intention is to come back, which is fabulous.â
His optimism about her return that morning indicates Hendersonâs decision to leave must have been made only hours later.
Itâs entirely possible Henderson chose to walk away from her $100million deal during her sound healing session with Cordony.
While her contract is now terminated, ARN has offered Henderson the possibility of an alternative show on the network.
Sandilands, meanwhile, effectively has two weeks to fight for his job.
Sandilands (left) said on Tuesday that Henderson would return to the airwaves âat some stageâ
He has been suspended and given 14 days to âremedyâ the breach, or else faces termination.
ARN provided written notice to Sandilands stating that it considers his behaviour during the show on February 20 âan act of serious misconduct which is in breach of ARNâs services agreement with Quasar Mediaâ.
Last Wednesday, Sandilands admitted he wished he had handled things differently.
âI obviously upset her. Maybe, in hindsight, I shouldnât have said it on the air. But we say a lot of things on the air here,â he said.
âIt was never meant to hurt her feelings and obviously it did. I regret hurting her feelings. No one wants to hurt someone. Especially someone you care for.
I donât really know. The show is just ploughing ahead anyway. Iâm just leaving this up to management,â he added.
Sandilands went on to say he just wanted to be back on the air with everyone happy, adding: âI want her to be happy and enjoy it. I also want the same thing.â
He then joked he didnât care if any of the other producers or staff members were happy because he would âswap them all out in a heartbeatâ for his co-star.
Sandilands and Henderson signed a landmark 10-year deal with ARN in 2023 worth $200million â the biggest media contract in Australian history.
However, Henderson recently began saying she would be willing to walk away if she wasnât happy.
This week, Mediaweek quoted radio industry sources as saying Hendersonâs decision to step away from the show was âa long time comingâ and the actions of a woman who had ârealised her worthâ after years in an uneven on-air partnership.
Last week, media industry veteran Rob McKnight wrote for the Mail that he believed Henderson launching female-focused events company Besties was her bid to build a brand totally separate from Sandilandsâ shock jock image.
When that venture wasnât successful, she looked to be in a fragile place professionally. Being called unprofessional on air was the last straw, wrote McKnight.
âShe told Sandilands â a man she genuinely loves and respects, but whose broadcasting style has unquestionably boxed her in â that she would never speak to him on air the way he did. And she had a point.
âThey can fight, even get personal, but ultimately there is a line.
âFor someone who prides herself on the work she puts into the show â and her work ethic has never been questioned before now â being told she has been up in the clouds was a huge blow.â
Columnist Amanda Goff also penned a piece about Henderson and Sandilandsâ diverging social lives, with Sandilands settling into domestic life in his 50s while a happily divorced Henderson embraced a fresh start in the eastern suburbs âin crowdâ.
Their vastly separate paths, Goff argued, laid the groundwork for their on-air rift.
âI doubt star signs are the only issue here. Kyleâs frustration is obvious, given how openly and publicly he dismisses her passion.
âCome on, this isnât really about Mercury in retrograde, is it?
âThis is about two people who were once perfectly in sync now seeming to orbit in opposite galaxies.â
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Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-15608581/Jackie-O-breaks-silence-quits-100-million-Kyle-Sandilands.html
