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 at the world famous rehab facility for a shocking 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.

Medical advice warns users not to drink alcohol while taking Stilnox as it can cause the respiratory system to slow down and cause difficulty waking 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.

She said she went ‘back and forth’ deciding whether to share the news publicly before sharing her addiction struggles.

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

‘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.

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. She is pictured just weeks before she went to rehab on October 2022  at the Australian Commercial Radio Awards with her daughter Kitty 

Jackie was treated at the world famous rehab facility for a shocking addiction to painkillers, sleeping pills and alcohol

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

Jackie said she began struggling after her split from UK photographer Lee Henderson in 2018 

She also revealed she asked permission from her daughter Kitty, 13, 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.

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

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.