Troubled ex-TV star Andrew O’Keefe ordered to attend ‘tranquil’ Port Stephens rehab

The fallen TV star is en route to an idyllic cabin in the woods, ordered to spend up to a year fishing and playing tennis at a Christian-orientated rehab centre near Port Stephens.

Fallen game show host Andrew O’Keefe has swapped his cramped 2m by 3m remand cell for a self-contained cabin at a waterfront rural idyll after being granted bail to fight his drug and alcohol demons.

O’Keefe nodded in the Supreme Court as Justice Robert Hulme said the 24/7 rehabilitation centre was a good opportunity for him after a descent into an “erratic and chaotic lifestyle”.

The former host of Deal or No Deal and The Chase has been on remand at Silverwater Jail since he allegedly grabbed a former sex worker by the throat in January.

On Monday he appeared before the NSW Supreme Court via AVL from the remand centre and nodded and thanked Justice Robert Hulme who granted him bail on strict conditions.

In March he was refused bail after another judge, Justice Robertson Wright, ruled that his proposed three-week stint in rehabilitation was inadequate.

This time lawyers for the former prime time TV celebrity increased that to at least six months and up to 12 months.

Andrew O'Keefe has been released on bail to attend a rehab facility. Picture: Tim Hunter

Andrew O’Keefe has been remanded in custody since January.

Justice Hulme said this was “significant” and ordered that O’Keefe, 50, be accompanied from Silverwater on Monday to go direct to the Christian-orientated rehabilitation centre at Swan Bay near Port Stephens.

O’Keefe will have to spend between six and 12 months at the Connect Global centre where he can go fishing, play tennis and basketball as he joins up to another 19 “willing men” who are “ready to enter the recovery stage of dealing with their addiction”.

The court had been told that the nephew of rock and roll legend Johnny O’Keefe and the son of a former Supreme Court judge had already been to rehab nine times before this one over his addictions to ice and cocaine.

In jail, he has been in isolation and experienced “hardships of greater significance than those experienced by the average inmate”, the court was told.

Justice Hulme agreed the former violence against women ambassador needed treatment for “his longstanding drug problems and mental health issues that appear to be, to a significant extent, trauma related”.

“It offers the applicant an opportunity to address issues that have led to a significant descent into an erratic and chaotic lifestyle,” Justice Hulme said.

Believed to be Andrew O’Keefe leaving Silverwater Jail in Sydney after being granted bail to attend a rehab centre.

The judge said the prosecution case “cannot be described as “weak” but that a jail sentence was not inevitable if convicted due to the lack of a violent record.

Global Connect is a charity which states on its website that it is “situated in tranquil bushland on the waterways of Port Stephens” and “provides respite, peace and rejuvenation within a supported environment, to men whose lives have been devastated by drugs and alcohol abuse”.

If he leaves rehab or is expelled, he must hand himself in to police.

Andrew O'Keefe was involved in establishing anti-domestic violence charity White Ribbon.

O’Keefe who has a histotry of using ice and cannabis, was on six charges after police alleged he grabbed a former sex worker by the throat, punched her and pushed her to the ground.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, including intentionally choking a person without consent, three counts of common assault and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He has pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing a prohibited drug and is yet to be sentenced.

After a successful 17-year partnership, Channel 7 last year dumped Mr O’Keefe following a series of public scandals and personal struggles.

Before launching The Chase, Mr O’Keefe fronted Weekend Sunrise, Deal or No Deal, The Rich List and other prime-time specials, including the Logie Awards.

He was awarded an Order of Australia for his work on television and in the charity space, including as a former ambassador for anti-domestic violence organisation White Ribbon.