Kyle Sandilands’ life, scandals, relationships and fatherhood at 51
As popular KIIS FM radio host Kyle Sandilands ties the knot for the second time, we take a look at some of his past relationships, as well as his rise to self-made millionaire.
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Radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands is a self-made multi-millionaire, has a successful radio career, and is not afraid to voice his very strong opinions — both on and off the air.
And his personal life is just as fascinating, from being best mates with ‘King of the Cross’ John Ibrahim to becoming a first-time dad, aged 51.
King Kyle’s path to success has taken some interesting turns. We take a look at his career, controversies, personal life and how he has managed to stay on top over the years.
Love life
Sandilands got engaged to Tegan Kynaston, who is 15 years his junior, in January 2022.
Kynaston gave birth to their first child, a boy they named Otto, on August 11 of the same year. She is the director of communications for King Kyle Group.
But before his engagement to Kynaston in January and in February, publicly announcing they are expecting a baby, Sandilands had a rocky past when it came to other relationships.
He has been married once before to girl band Scandal’us singer Tamara Jaber in September 2008 at St Brigid’s Church in Marrickville. Sandilands revealed he spent one million dollars on their wedding, where the reception took place at Doltone House in Pyrmont. The couple split two years later in 2010.
His most recent relationship before Kynaston was with model Imogen Anthony, whom he started dating in 2011.
Their eight-year relationship ended in 2019 when Sandilands was aged 48 and Anthony was 28.
“We haven’t been living with each other for a few months, quite a few months now, unfortunately it’s run its course,” Sandilands told his KIIS FM listeners at the time, but didn’t go into any further details.
During her appearance on Big Brother VIP in 2021, Anthony said she wanted children but Sandilands was “just working so much”.
“It was just work, work, work, work, work. You know, and I want to have kids and we just kind of grew apart,” she said on the Channel 7 show at the time.
In an interview with Stellar magazine in November 2021, Anthony said they just “grew into different people”.
Sandilands and Kynaston’s April 29, 2023 wedding was a star-studded event which Sandilands talked about consistently on his radio show ahead of the nuptials.
Celebrity guests included his co-host Jackie O, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, best mate John Ibrahim, as well as Guy Sebastian, Conrad Sewell and Karl Stefanovic and wife Jasmine.
Controversies
During his long radio career, Sandilands has copped some public backlash, mostly for his on-air antics.
On September 29, Sandilands launched a massive on-air tirade where he labelled his colleagues “spazzes”, and was called out by prominent disability activist Hannah Diviney, who inspired global superstar Lizzo to change her lyrics, for using the derogatory term.
Sandilands also called his co-workers and bosses “flops”, “losers” and “dumb” during his rant.
During his career, there have also been two other standout incidents.
While still with 2Day FM in 2009, a radio stunt went horribly wrong when the duo quizzed a 14-year-old girl about her sexual history using a lie-detector test, where the girl admitted she was raped when she was 12 years old.
The radio duo was pulled off the air and then returned after an internal review. The Australian Communications and Media Authority also investigated.
At the time, Sandilands also lost his $1 million TV contract with Australian Idol when they pulled him from the judging panel.
In another incident years later on KIIS FM, Sandilands came under fire from religious groups, with many Christians calling for his sacking, after his comments about the Virgin Mary in 2019, where he joked the Virgin Mary wasn’t actually a “virgin” at all. He described her as a “liar” who got knocked up “behind a camel shed”.
It led to a public protest outside the KIIS FM radio station headquarters. Sandilands publicly apologised not long after making those comments.
“Truly, from the bottom of my heart, never do I want to make someone so angry that they don’t want to listen to the show or to me,” Mr Sandilands said at the time.
“In reflection I know what I said was dumb and I am the dumb one for saying it. Who am I to say what (others) should believe in?”
It even sparked a religious vilification court case which was eventually settled out of court in 2021.
In February 2022, Sandilands stormed out of his own radio show after a 12-minute on-air rant relating to the public airing of former premier Gladys Berejiklian’s texts about the now former PM Scott Morrison.
“I’m angry. This is the way the world has been ruined, by d***heads on the news turning these things into bulls*** moments,” Sandilands fumed during the expletive-ridden spray.
He returned the next day saying he was a bit embarrassed after his “carry on” but he felt “very justified”.
Early life
Kyle Sandilands grew up in the Brisbane suburb of Wynnum. His mum Pam and dad Peter, who died in 2016, separated when he was 11 years old and by his own confessions, he had a troubled childhood.
Sandilands has revealed in a number of interviews and on air he was homeless when he was about 15 years old for almost a year after his mother, father and stepfather told him he was unwelcome at home.
He didn’t finish Year 10 and in a 2009 Daily Telegraph exclusive interview with his dad, it was revealed the young Kyle worked a number of jobs — at a butchery, at a Dick Smith’s store and some labouring jobs — before he bluffed his way into a job at the Townsville radio station 4TO.
And the rest as they say is history.
Career
After starting work at 4TO, Sandilands progressed to becoming an on-air radio talent at Cairns, Gladstone, Darwin, Perth and Brisbane before he made his move to Sydney in 2000.
This is where his on-air partnership with Jackie O Henderson began, when he replaced Phil O’Neil on Austereo’s national Hot30 Countdown.
In 2005, the duo moved to 2Day FM’s breakfast show in Sydney — where they became the most listened to FM breakfast show. But in 2014, they made the shock move to KIIS FM after contract negotiations broke down with 2Day FM.
They secured a multimillion-dollar deal which has since been touted as the biggest ever showbiz contract in Australian history.
In 2021, Sandilands again locked in a three-year, $5 million-a-year contract with KIIS FM.
And their ratings continue to back them up as the number one FM show in Sydney, with a 12.4 per cent share, up 1.1 percentage points, in June 2022.
They have also won the Australian Commercial Radio Awards for the Best On-Air Team.
But he also branched out away from radio, building his own business empire worth more than $100 million.
He founded the King Kyle Group in 2012 and according to its website, covers management, records, TV, film, radio and publishing.
“King Kyle is an investment group bringing together individuals, combining skills, knowledge and expertise from a range of different industries to develop ideas, and build exciting new companies,” the company’s LinkedIn profile states.
His empire also includes several properties and lucrative businesses, including his Nueva Sangria alcoholic drink range, as well as investing in H2Coco coconut water.
Kyle Sandilands is also a major investor in start-up app TapJar, which encourages Aussies to give a little extra for good service.
He has also ventured into television work, as a cast member of Celebrity Big Brother in 2002; as a judge for Australian Idol from 2005-2009, when he was dropped following an on-air controversy; X Factor Australia judge in 2010; Australia’s Got Talent judge from 2010-2013; and later fronted his own TV show Trial By Kyle on Channel 10 in 2019.
But just as news broke about the birth of his first child, it was revealed Sandilands will be back on the judging panel for Network Seven’s revival of Australian Idol.
He also released his tell-all biography Scandalands in 2012.
Lavish milestones
He’s worked hard to increase his fortune and Sandilands is not afraid to spend it on lavish parties and on his luxury car collection, which includes a $1.3 million Rolls-Royce Phantom.
Sandilands celebrated his 50th birthday milestone in style in June 2021, and asked Kynaston — his partner of two years — to marry him while they were at his Port Douglas holiday house in January 2022.
And most recently his lavish events centred around his baby — starting with the baby announcement on-air, a gender reveal party on a superyacht on Sydney Harbour and a baby shower at the couple’s Woollahra mansion in June.
Jackie O, who will be the baby’s godmother, brought her daughter Kitty to the event, which was also attended by newly engaged couple John Ibrahim and Sarah Budge and Sandilands’ agent Bruno Bouchet.
For the gender reveal in February, Sandilands booked a $4000-per-hour Oneworld superyacht and hired two fighter jets to officially reveal the gender of his baby by shooting blue smoke over the harbour.
Just before he turned 50 in 2021, in an interview with Joe Hildebrand for Stellar magazine, Sandilands revealed he was happy to not act his age.
He proved this by ringing in his 50th birthday with a lavish party on-board a $3000-per-hour superyacht on Sydney Harbour, which insiders claim cost close to $500,000, followed by an after-party at his Woollahra mansion.
His gifts included a Panerai watch from Kynaston, a Hermes vase from his co-host Jackie O and a gold toilet seat imported from Dubai from his friend Simon Main.
Nesting
In July 2022, Sandilands bought a semirural property in Glenorie for $3m, which according to realestate.com.au he plans to knock down and rebuild their dream home.
Currently, the couple live in an $8000 a week rental at Bellevue Hill, which has five bedrooms and six bathrooms.
He has rented before in Edgecliff, Oxford Falls and in Terrey Hills.
“In the past, I didn’t want to lock down anywhere because I wanted to be able to go and live in LA for a few years or maybe London,” he said in 2022.
“I didn’t want to be handcuffed to the dream home.”
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