‘If it bursts, I die instantly’: Kyle Sandilands reveals brain aneurysm diagnosis

The KIIS FM host shared his condition on air, describing the severity of the illness and the upcoming surgery that could keep him off the air for weeks.

“I have a brain aneurysm, and it requires immediate attention, brain surgery,” Kyle Sandilands told listeners on Monday. Picture: Nicholas Wilson.

Kyle Sandilands, Australia’s highest-paid radio personality, announced Monday that he has been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm and will require surgery.

Sandilands, 53, who co-hosts KIIS FM’s popular breakfast show alongside Jackie O Henderson, had been absent from the program on Friday due to illness

Addressing his listeners upon his return, he disclosed that his recent bouts of severe headaches had led doctors to the diagnosis. “I was told by my medical team—which sounds like I’m already very sick, to have a medical team—that I have a brain aneurysm, and it requires immediate attention, brain surgery,” he said.

Keeping with his signature shock jock bravado, he added, “So if you just tuned in to us after all these years, lap it up. And if you’re in Melbourne, you’re coming to the party too late. You may get your wish. I may be dead.”

During the live broadcast, Sandilands shared images of his brain scans with colleagues in the studio, pointing out the aneurysm as his co-workers reacted with shock. “If that bursts, I die instantly,” he said.

Though he did not specify a date for the surgery, Sandilands said he expects to take up to eight weeks off the air to recover.

Explaining the nature of his condition, he said: “It’s not a blockage. It’s like, imagine your blood vessel is the garden hose, and the garden hose is weak and it blisters out like a big bubble, you know, like a puncture in it, like a bike tire with a big bubble that bubbles the aneurysm, so it’s not blocked,” he said. “It’s like, it’s expanded and if it bursts, it’s either a vegetable in the wheelchair, or dead.”

Sandilands acknowledged the toll that decades in the entertainment industry has had on his health. “The facts are a life of cocaine abuse and partying are not the way to go,” he said, joking about his doctors’ instructions to avoid sex and drugs in the lead-up to surgery.

Sandilands and Henderson have been radio mainstays for nearly two decades. Their expansion into the Melbourne market earlier this year has yet to yield the listener numbers they had anticipated.