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‘Was I a good enough brother?’: Jett Kenny’s emotional confession about late sister Jaimi on SAS Australia

In an emotional confession on SAS Australia, Jett Kenny questioned whether he offered enough support to his late sister Jaimi during her 15-year battle with mental health.

Jett Kenny opens up about his late sister Jaimi on SAS Australia

Jett Kenny has broken down while making an emotional confession about his late sister Jaimi on SAS Australia.

During a challenge about honesty on Tuesday night’s episode of the Channel 7 reality show, Kenny opened up to the group about fears he hadn’t offered enough support to his older sister during her 15-year battle with mental health.

Jaimi, the eldest child of Olympians Grant Kenny and Lisa Curry, died aged 33 last September at Sunshine Coast University Hospital surrounded by her family.

Jett Kenny competes on SAS Australia on Channel 7. Picture: Jeremy Grieve
Jett Kenny competes on SAS Australia on Channel 7. Picture: Jeremy Grieve

“The biggest thing in my life is never feeling good enough. I set my standards very high but if I don’t get them then I put it all back on myself, and I let that affect me heaps,” Jett, 26, began.

“I guess a way I kind of became like that was with my sister. She battled with mental health for 15 years, but for me it was kind of just ‘why are you doing this to yourself’. (I) never fully understood it.”

Jett continued that he had once offered an answer to Jaimi which he then repeated at her funeral last year.

“I’m not going to say it because it’s very personal, but I remember saying it to her the night she asked me this question and I gave her the honest truth,” he said.

“I was hoping that was the harsh reality she needed – hearing it from her younger brother – but she’s gone now.”

“I kind of regret not being there for her more.”

Jett Kenny during the honesty test on SAS Australia. Picture: Channel 7
Jett Kenny during the honesty test on SAS Australia. Picture: Channel 7
Jett Kenny during the honesty test on SAS Australia. Picture: Channel 7
Jett Kenny during the honesty test on SAS Australia. Picture: Channel 7

Jett broke down while sharing the story with the group, saying he had also cried at her funeral and the night she passed away.

“We did everything we could as a family for Jaimi to try to bring her out of it but unfortunately that wasn’t the case,” he said.

“Everyone wants to do the best they can for the people they love but when you can’t it makes you question yourself. Was I a good enough brother?”

He previously told Qweekend he had finished his shift as a lifeguard on the Sunshine Coast when he received a phone call from his mother and went with his family to hospital to say goodbye.

“We were all sitting there around the hospital bed with her saying our last goodbyes. I just remember seeing them (my parents) sitting there holding her hand just being like ‘what more could we have done?’,” he continued on SAS.

“She’d beat some (demons) away, but then more would come back. It was good in a way because her suffering was over.”

Jett, who filmed the show six months after his sister’s death, said Jaimi had been “a fighter” and he had thought of her when he considered quitting an endurance challenge earlier that day.

“She was a fighter from day one until the very end,” he said.

“That came to my head today, staff, when we were pulling those tyres. Every step is just one more step. In the back of my mind, my sister is kind of there.”

Originally published as ‘Was I a good enough brother?’: Jett Kenny’s emotional confession about late sister Jaimi on SAS Australia

Original URL: https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/queensland/was-i-a-good-enough-brother-jett-kennys-emotional-confession-about-late-sister-jaimi-on-sas-australia/news-story/61404f6290288db2846ce2977341df5d