Kyle Sandilands has cast doubt on Jackie ‘O’ Henderson’s long-held claim that manager Gemma O’Neill was her ‘best friend for 20 years’, insisting he was blindsided when he first heard the description of their relationship.
Speaking on Daily Mail Australia’s podcast The Debrief with Savanna Young, the 55-year-old radio star said he had known O’Neill just as long as Henderson had, having first met her in 2000 when she was a teenager working on reception at 2DayFM after school.
‘We have got to go right back to the year 2000 at 2DayFM, where Gemma was in her school uniform at 3.30 in the afternoon,’ Sandilands recalled.
‘She was the afternoon switch girl at reception.’
Sandilands said O’Neill later worked her way up to become executive producer of the Kyle & Jackie O show, but maintained that their relationship with her was largely professional.
‘We knew her. She was always around,’ he said.
Kyle Sandilands has cast doubt on Jackie ‘O’ Henderson’s long-held claim that manager Gemma O’Neill was her ‘best friend for 20 years’, insisting he was blindsided when he first heard the description of their relationship. Pictured: Gemma and Jackie O in 2024
So when Henderson later described O’Neill as her best friend of two decades, Sandilands admitted he was stunned.
‘I was taken aback when I was told we’d been best friends for 20 years and I thought, “Well, that’s complete bulls***”,’ he said.
‘It was surprising to me that it was claimed to be such a solid 20-year friendship, when really we all know that they barely knew each other until the last couple of years.’
The controversial broadcaster stressed he was not disputing the closeness of their friendship now, but said the timeline never matched what he had witnessed.
‘I’d known Gemma for 20 years as well,’ he added.
‘But I’m not here to say whether Jackie’s friendship was stronger than mine with her or not.’
According to Sandilands, the relationship changed during Henderson’s battle with prescription pill addiction, a struggle the radio host has spoken openly about in recent years.
‘That’s when Gemma rescued Jackie from this pill thing,’ he said.
Speaking on Daily Mail Australia’s podcast The Debrief with Savanna Young, the 55-year-old radio star said he had known O’Neill just as long as Henderson had, having first met her in 2000 when she was a teenager working on reception at 2DayFM after school
‘She saved her life, according to Jackie.’
Sandilands said the experience helped explain why the pair became inseparable.
‘I understand why the friendship was glued in. That sort of bond,’ he said.
‘Maybe because Jackie did think that she went to Gemma for that pill problem and she thinks Gemma saved her life.’
Sandilands also noted that at the time Henderson sought help for addiction, O’Neill was working as the content director at a rival radio network.
While conceding O’Neill may have played a crucial role in Henderson’s recovery, Sandilands maintained the friendship only became publicly apparent in more recent years.
‘The weird part was to hear, “We’ve been best friends for 20 years”,’ he said.
‘I was like, “I’ve barely known her for 20 years”.’
According to Sandilands, Hendersons’s relationship with O’Neill changed during the blonde’s battle with prescription pill addiction, a struggle the radio host has spoken openly about in recent years
He added that many people within their circle shared his surprise, including his manager, Bruno Bouchet.
‘It was odd to me and odd to Bruno and odd to many other people that knew that’s not quite really the story,’ he said.
‘I was quite surprised because I’d never heard her name. Ever.’
Sandilands suggested their relationship may have intensified after O’Neill later became Henderson’s manager, but denied longstanding rumours that O’Neill negotiated contracts for both radio stars.
‘There was a falsehood out there that Gemma had done the deal for both Jackie and I, which couldn’t be further from the truth,’ he said.
Instead, Sandilands said his own deals were negotiated by Bouchet and his legal team, while he spent years ensuring Henderson received equal pay.
‘When I met her, she was the star and I was just the no one from the bush,’ he said.
‘I paid the legals for that every year. Jackie would just get a mirror image of it because I was always about the equal pay.’
While conceding O’Neill may have played a crucial role in Henderson’s recovery, Sandilands maintained the friendship only became publicly apparent in more recent years
Despite questioning the timeline of Henderson and O’Neill’s friendship, Sandilands stopped short of criticising the pair’s bond.
‘Maybe it’s like she’s never had a friend like her, and she’s known her for 20 years, but the friendship’s really strong at the end,’ he said.
‘Who am I to say?’