Jackie O spills on health struggles after extended radio break
The radio host has lifted the lid on her recent health battles, after leaving Kyle and Jackie O fans stunned by her abrupt departure last year.
Jackie “O” Henderson has opened up about stepping back from her high-profile radio show, admitting she was “burnt out”.
The presenter, 47, stunned listeners of the long-running Kyle and Jackie O Show late last year when she abruptly announced that she was taking an extended break for health reasons.
Ahead of her return to the airwaves alongside Kyle Sandilands next week, Jackie revealed on Seven’s Sunrise on Wednesday that she’d made the dramatic decision to step back after “getting sick a lot” and being “thrown around by Covid”.
“You just worry you’re letting people down,” she confessed of her sudden break.
“Kyle was amazing about it, he was so supportive. He was messaging me all the time. We really respect each other at the end of the day, we know that sometimes a line might get crossed but I think overall we both kind of know where that line is.”
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Jackie also opened up about gaining back the 10 kilograms she’d publicly lost on the Weight Watchers program, for which she’s an ambassador.
“I don’t even know what happened there, but everyone does it,” she explained.
“You could get to a point where you’re like, ‘Yay, I’ve lost the weight, I’ll have a bit of this, I’ll have a bit of that. and then before you know it, you’re creeping into old habits again.
“As soon as I went back on Weight Watchers, it started to drop off again, because I know it works for me.”
Jackie also described new habits she’d picked up to try and stay healthy when she returns to the gruelling breakfast radio hours in 2023.
“Cold showers, meditation, exercise, eating healthy – I think it’s going to be a huge benefit for me,” she told Sunrise.
Jackie shared the news in November that she had been struggling to recover since contracting Covid-19 months earlier, and had been advised by her doctor to take extended leave allow her body some time to rest.
She told listeners she would be off air for “the next couple of weeks” but did not give an exact return date.
“Ever since picking up that virus, I’ve been to the doctor several times and he said because I’ve been pushing myself every day, after the show all I’ve been doing is sleeping and I’m not getting better,” Jackie explained.
“I feel it’s got worse. I can hear it,” Kyle told her.
“I just have to take some time off,” she replied. “I’m ending the show today. As in now.
“You know how much this show means to me, you know how much I push through everything, and I would not be doing this unless I absolutely had to.”
After Kyle joked: “Are you dying? You have cancer?”, she replied that she just needed “proper, serious rest”.
“(The doctor) basically said, ‘if you keep doing this, this is going to get much worse,’ and I’ve taken his advice,” Jackie told her co-host.
“I rarely take doctors’ advice, I’m usually like, ‘nah, it’ll be fine’.”