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 watching her best friend struggle with drug addiction.

Jackie, 49, made the tearful revelation that she secretly checked into the Betty Ford Clinic in November 2022 while reading an excerpt from her new book to her co-host on her KIIS FM radio show.

Shortly after, Gemma tearfully told Kyle how she helped Jackie, 49, secretly fly to California and check into the world-renowned facility.

After Jackie admitted her shocking addiction – consuming up to 12 Stilnox sleeping pills and 24 Panadeine Forte tablets a day – Gemma had to act quickly.

‘I could see that Jackie was fading into someone that wasn’t her. “I didn’t know how to handle that,” he said.

‘If you tell someone, they can help you. And Jackie had the courage to tell me one day. He called me and said, “Gemma, I’m doing something really stupid.”

‘Jackie told me she had been taking pills. I told him, “I’m going to your house right now, stay there.” I got there and we had a very traumatic conversation about the reality that was happening. She was a disaster.

‘I knew there was no way she would get better unless something serious happened. I realized very quickly that it was a life or death situation and I needed to act quickly.

‘I immediately enrolled her in Betty Ford (rehabilitation center). It was about making sure he got the help he needed; I knew that was the only option. Fortunately, it ended up being a really successful show.

Jackie stepped in and thanked Gemma for “never leaving my side” during her darkest time and for giving her the help she needed.

‘Thank God I had you. “I will always be grateful for what you did for me,” Jackie said gratefully.

At the time of Jackie’s trip to America to go to rehab, Kyle told listeners that Jackie was taking a break to “focus on her health” after contracting Covid.

Jackie said staff at Betty Ford, popular with Hollywood stars, told her not to change “anything” about her use before she arrived as it could be “dangerous”, so she was still taking the pills on the day she arrived. He flew to the United States.

He said he went “back and forth” to decide whether to share the news publicly before detailing the extent of his addiction in his upcoming memoir The Whole Truth, scheduled for release Oct. 29.

Ahead of the book’s release, Jackie broke down in tears when she spoke for the first time about the heartbreaking extent of her battle with addiction.

‘I was afraid to tell people and say it out loud, I know people will look at me differently. “I was in a dark place,” he told listeners.

Jackie admitted she lied by ‘omission’ when she made her announcement in 2022 that her absence from work was due to suffering from Covid.

She said her struggles began more than 15 years ago when she was prescribed a powerful opioid painkiller for endometriosis, a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus, causing severe pain.