Jackie ‘O’ Henderson has revealed the extent of her drug and alcohol addiction in pictures that emerged moments before her rehab stint.
Footage of the 49-year-old radio star, who was admitted to the Betty Ford Clinic for drug and alcohol addiction in 2022, shows her sitting on the shoulder of a parking lot outside the admissions office while smoking her last cigarette. while waiting for the results. of a Covid test.
Another image shows Jackie flying business class while traveling “incognito on her way to California and rehab.”
The never-before-seen footage has been revealed in his new memoir, The Whole Truth, which chronicles the radio star’s extensive drug use.
In the memoir, Jackie explains that she began taking “codeine pills with a glass of wine” in an attempt to escape reality.
“At first it was casual, until it wasn’t. Truth be told, while over the years when times got tough I would go to the pharmacy and buy Nurofen Plus for relief, it’s different now,” he writes.
‘To experience any kind of effect, I have been taking approximately ten Nurofen Plus tablets at a time for years. Now that I was deeper into my addiction, I was taking that amount three or four times a day.’
Jackie admitted that her addiction began to worsen after her divorce from Lee Henderson, to whom she was married from 2003 to 2018.
Shocking images show Jackie ‘O’ Henderson sitting on the shoulder of a parking lot in front of the Betty Ford Clinic in California while smoking her last cigarette before being admitted.
The divorce caused her to spend less time with her daughter Kitty, now 13, causing her to suffer unbearable bouts of sadness and loss.
‘In an attempt to cope with the loneliness and guilt I felt, I made another bad decision. “I started taking sleeping pills (Stilnox) on days when I was alone, as a way to numb the loneliness,” she continues.
“It was a cowardly way of facing my pain, of finding solace in what was slowly becoming an addiction.”
At that time, in 2018, the Australian government began cracking down on the purchase of painkillers without a prescription, ending the purchase of codeine without a prescription.
Another image shows Jackie flying business class while traveling ‘incognito on her way to California and rehab.’
Jackie shares the room she stayed in, where she held ‘distinctive’ retreats
It wasn’t long before Jackie managed to get a “stronger codeine painkiller”, Panadeine Forte, through a contact and started taking “fewer tablets for the same effect”.
The former Masked Singer judge began cutting back on her use on the days she was having her daughter, but her body had already become dependent on the drugs.
‘If I went several hours without them, my hands would start to shake and shake. I would get chills and stomach cramps, and the nausea and diarrhea would come on much quicker than you’d imagine,” Jackie says.
“If I didn’t want to feel dizzy and faint, I needed something to help me.”
Elsewhere in her memoir, Jackie details the great lengths she would go to to hide her addiction from her friends and explained how she would hide and dispose of the empty pill packets she kept in her home.
Jackie admitted that her addiction began to worsen after her divorce from Lee Henderson, whom she married in 2003 before separating in 2018. Pictured together in 2007.
“I didn’t want to throw them in the trash… I would put them all in a white plastic bag and then, after two weeks, I would throw my misfortune into a random container on the way to work.” she adds.
The media star opened up about her rapid weight gain during the peak of her addiction, which she claims was triggered by drinking “a bottle of wine” or a gin and tonic, all while taking Stilnox and then ordering UberEats “every day.” . day’ during Covid.
As of late 2022, Jackie was taking a pack of Panadeine Forte every day (“six pills at a time, four times a day”), as well as a full pack of Stilnox, which included 10 tablets per pack.
One Sunday morning, when Jackie woke up to the remains of her UberEats order from the night before on the floor next to her bed along with a half-empty glass of gin and tonic and cigarettes in an ashtray, her supplier called her to tell her that she was “arrested” and could no longer provide pain medication.
She confided in her best friend, Gemma O’Neill, who quickly admitted Jackie to the Betty Ford Clinic, located two hours from Los Angeles.
Jackie announced her break from the Kyle & Jackie show before she and Gemma flew to California together, with the radio presenter wearing a cap, glasses and a face mask to conceal her identity during the long-haul flight.
Jackie details her in-clinic detox experience and the withdrawal symptoms she felt during the first week of rehab.
“I wasn’t vomiting or shaking, but for ten days I experienced some distinctive aftershocks. An anxiety that makes your skin crawl. A spasmodic discomfort. A disturbing confusion,” he writes.
When Jackie took a break from the show in 2022, her co-host Kyle Sandilands told listeners that she was stepping away to “focus on her health” after contracting COVID-19.
Jackie ‘O’ Henderson’s The Whole Truth is now available in stores and online
Jackie admitted that she was ashamed of her secret, fearing public judgment, and decided to seek help after hitting rock bottom.
She also revealed that she asked her daughter Kitty for permission 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 dealt with it has been non-judgmental, just compassionate and supportive,” Jackie said.
Jackie said she wanted to speak publicly about her battle with addiction to reduce the “stigma” around drug dependency and “normalize” it.
The host apologized to listeners for not disclosing her health issues sooner and revealed that she will be two years sober in a matter of weeks.
“I want to apologize to our listeners and to everyone in my life (…) I just needed to focus on that part first, that recovery,” he said.
The Whole Truth by Jackie ‘O’ Henderson is available now in stores and online.