Kyle Sandilands’ on-air confession on Monday that he was suffering from loneliness and depression left one of his colleagues so surprised they initially thought he was joking – just like he had done on 60 Minutes the night before.
KIIS FM’s newsreader Brooklyn Ross could be seen smiling and laughing behind Kyle’s back in footage recorded in the studio, only to realise moments later the 48-year-old shock jock was being serious.
Brooklyn’s expression changed starkly as Kyle, who rarely expresses sadness on air, began to well up as he revealed he felt ‘very sad’ and ‘let down’ by those he once considered friends.
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Blindsided: Kyle Sandilands’ on-air confession on Monday that he was suffering from loneliness and depression left one of his colleagues so surprised they initially thought he was joking – just like he had done on 60 Minutes the night before
The journalist, who sits behind Kyle in a glass booth, acknowledged on Tuesday that he had misjudged the situation and at first thought it was just an ‘Only Lying’ prank.
‘Only Lying’ is a regular phone-in segment on The Kyle and Jackie O Show in which listeners convince their friends or family that something dreadful has happened.
Once the target has become sufficiently frustrated, Kyle and his co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson jump in to say they were ‘only lying’.
Miscommunication: KIIS FM’s newsreader Brooklyn Ross (far left) could be seen smiling and laughing behind Kyle’s back in footage recorded in the studio, only to realise moments later the 48-year-old shock jock was being serious. Pictured with Jackie ‘O’ Henderson (right)
Brooklyn said: ‘I’e got to apologise, because when Kyle started saying it yesterday, I was laughing a little bit!
‘And so I got all these messages, saying: “Oh, you heartless prick!”‘
Jackie explained that Brooklyn couldn’t see Kyle face because of where he was sitting, and so didn’t realise he was being serious.
Serious: Brooklyn’s expression changed starkly as Kyle, who rarely expresses sadness on air, tearfully revealed he felt ‘very sad’ and ‘let down’ by those he once considered friends
Brooklyn said he had thought Kyle ‘was just doing it again’ – referring to how he had hinted at having a serious health condition on Sunday’s episode of 60 Minutes, only to say he was kidding.
It comes after the radio king confirmed on Monday morning that his ‘crocodile tears’ on Nine’s current affairs show had been his way of addressing his real-life mental health demons.
She said that while he wasn’t physically unwell – as Nine’s promos for the episode had suggested – he was battling profound loneliness and depression.
‘I don’t have anything [physically] that I know of… but there is something wrong, but it’s not a medical thing,’ he said. ‘The honest truth as to why I was so able to cry, like all that breakdown stuff so easy, was because inside I’m very sad.’
Secret struggle: It comes after Kyle confirmed on Monday morning that his ‘crocodile tears’ on 60 Minutes the night before had been his way of addressing his real-life mental health demons
‘I’m not joking. Inside my person, I’m very sad,’ he added, fighting back tears.
His friend and co-host Jackie then began welling up and said: ‘Oh, sweetie, don’t… you’re going to make me cry.’
Kyle acknowledged that his joke about having a health condition on 60 Minutes ‘wasn’t the right forum’ to address his depression – but clarified the tears were genuine.
‘When you [Jackie] said, “I’m very worried about him,” a wave of emotion went through me and then I realised, “Oh, s**t, I’m losing control here…”‘
‘And then the walls went back up,’ interrupted Brooklyn, who had only just realised Kyle was being genuine.
Kyle agreed, saying: ‘Yeah, so I had to make up something was wrong, as a joke. It was real emotion… there is a great sadness in me that I just carry around. Every day.’
Concerns: Jackie said she knew her radio partner ‘hadn’t been having a great time lately’ and hinted that his recent absences from work had been due to his depression
Jackie said she knew her radio partner ‘hadn’t been having a great time lately’ and hinted that his recent absences from work had been due to his depression.
She said: ‘A lot of people go, “Why is Kyle not in today?” And, yeah… I understand what you’re going through. I do, I really feel for you. But I didn’t realise… yeah, I thought you just were a great actor, to be honest.’
Kyle went on to say that he often felt ‘very alone even though I’m constantly surrounded by people’.
Jackie replied: ‘You’re not alone, though, that’s the thing. Remember that. I reach out to you all the time, and I know a lot of the time you don’t want it and you do put up this guard and you don’t want people to see that side of you, but you can.
‘You do have support. You do have real people in your life that care for you.’
She added that Kyle has ‘had a lot of bad eggs’ in his life who have taken advantage of him, which has ’caused a lot of the loneliness and sadness’.
Bait and switch: 60 Minutes was slammed on Sunday night for suggesting in promotional trailers that Kyle would reveal his ‘serious health condition’ – only for the radio presenter to say he was joking when the segment went to air
Jackie encouraged her friend too seek support from a psychologist, but Sandilands said that wasn’t for him.
‘I can’t be bothered… I can’t see myself sitting with a psychologist crying about childhood problems. That’s not my cup of tea,’ he said.
‘I don’t have the issue from my childhood. I don’t feel that I need to dredge up old problems. It’s a continual pattern in my life that I just feel I put effort into things and I just get let down.’
Kyle later clarified that he wasn’t in danger of ‘doing anything stupid’, just that he felt a prolonged internal sadness.
It comes after 60 Minutes was slammed for suggesting in promotional videos that Kyle would reveal he had been secretly battling a serious health condition – only for the radio presenter to say he was joking when the segment went to air.
In a preview for the show, Jackie had tears in her eyes as her KIIS FM colleague told her he had been keeping his ‘diagnosis’ a secret for some time.
But Kyle confirmed his big reveal was a wind-up on Sunday night – prompting a furious response from viewers who accused Nine of ‘false advertising’.
The stunt drew the ire of former Senator and outspoken commentator Derryn Hinch, who said joking about serious illnesses was no laughing matter.
‘Anybody who has ever been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and had to tell loved ones, would not appreciate Kyle Sandilands’ “joke” tonight,’ he wrote on Twitter.
Disappointed: Viewers weren’t impressed by Kyle’s revelation – with one claiming the promotions all week for the interview had been ‘false advertising’
Entertainment reporter Peter Ford, meanwhile, said 60 Minutes had gone ‘off brand’ by promoting Sandilands’ prank as an emotionally charged tell-all interview with the radio shock jock.
‘One thing for Kyle and Jackie O to pull a prank about a life threatening illness. That’s on brand. Different thing for 60 Minutes to use it in a promo knowing they wouldn’t be delivering. That’s off brand,’ he wrote.
‘You advertise all week about a poignant moment and a deadly diagnosis all week only for it to be a joke. False advertising Channel Nine,’ another viewer said.
A similar tweet read: ‘That pathetic, insensitive piece Karl did for 60 Minutes on Kyle Sandilands stunk of a desperate bid to regain relevance.
‘It failed miserably and will only serve to see Today fall even further behind Sunrise. It’s time for Stefanovic to ride off into the sunset.’
Misleading: Sandilands was in tears (left) in a 60 Minutes preview as he prepared to reveal the health condition – but the revelation it was a wind-up left Henderson and host Karl Stefanovic (right) stunned
‘She’s divine’: Jackie ‘O’ Henderson breaks down in tears as she hopes daughter Kitty is ‘proud’ of her… and reveals how she doesn’t allow the nine-year-old to listen to her radio show
She is very much an open book when hosting alongside Kyle Sandilands on KIIS FM’s The Kyle and Jackie O Show.
And appearing on Sunday’s segment dedicated to the radio duo, Jackie ‘O’ Henderson told reporter Karl Stefanovic how she hopes daughter Kitty – real name Catalina – is ‘proud’ of her.
The 45-year-old also revealed how she doesn’t allow the nine-year-old to listen to her radio show, where she often talks about her personal life.
When asked by Karl what Kitty thinks of her mother’s profession, Jackie said: ‘She came and said [to me] the other day, “Mummy, I overheard you say this. Is it true?”
Family: Jackie shares Kitty, real name Catalina, with her ex-husband Lee Henderson
‘I don’t let her listen to the show, so she never hears any of this stuff. So I know I’m only two years away before I’ve got some explaining to do.’
She went on to speak about her ‘beautiful relationship’ with Kitty, whom she shares with her ex-husband Lee Henderson.
Jackie and photographer Lee announced their split back in 2018.
‘It’s not a decision we took lightly at all,’ she said on The Kyle and Jackie O Show at the time. ‘Lee and I have been so lucky that our separation has been extremely amicable.
‘It’s not something that happened overnight for us… We wanted to keep that private for as long as we possibly could.
But Sandilands did reveal elsewhere in the program his blood pressure was so high his death could come ‘at any moment’.
‘I could die – that means at any stage at any time day or night,’ he told 60 Minutes host Karl Stefanovic.
The radio host showed the presenter how his home blood pressure machine could not even give a reading because his pressure was so high.
He said though there was a sign of improvement – with one recent promising reading almost reducing him to tears.
‘Two weeks ago I had the machine on and the blood pressure was good for the first time in 15 years,’ he said.
‘That’s when I got all emotional I started to well up, and nearly cried because I thought “Oh, maybe my pressure is under control. Maybe I won’t just die one day.”‘
In a demonstration of his blood pressure device, Sandilands showed how his blood pressure was 292 over 94 – when a healthy reading should be 120 over 80.
Worrying: Sandilands also told Stefanovic his dire physical health meant he could die at ‘any time day or night’. The radio heavyweight, 48, showed Stefanovic his home blood pressure machine could not even give a reading because his pressure was so high
Sandilands and Henderson also addressed the more hair-raising moments of their KIIS FM partnership.
The radio duo discussed a 2009 lie detector controversy when they were pulled from the airwaves after a 14-year-old girl revealed on-air she had been raped at the age of 12.
‘There’s no way I would do that now. If someone suggested that as a segment, I would know, no, we’re not putting a young girl on a lie-detector test,’ Henderson said.
Journey to success: Other parts of Sunday night’s interview reflected on the time Sandilands and Henderson spent getting to the top
Pictured: Sandilands and Henderson arriving for a red carpet event at Sydney’s Planet Hollywood in 2001
‘I’m always worried you’re going to say something that will one day just ruin you,’ she told her long-term co-host.
‘I feel like I always have to talk over him to try and stop him from going a place where sometimes he doesn’t get that if you go there, this is going to become a thing.’
The duo have been working together for almost 20 years, and dominate the airwaves as Australia’s number one breakfast show.
Over: Kyle split from long-term girlfriend Imogen Anthony, 29, in mid-2019 after eight years of dating
‘I’ve got a lot to give’: Kyle Sandilands speaks candidly about his relationship with girlfriend Tegan Kynaston and reveals his plans to have children
During Sunday night’s episode of 60 minutes, the radio star, 48, revealed his plans to ‘settle down and have children’ one day.
‘Of course I want to [settle down and have kids], I’m the kid that was thrown into the gutter at 15. I’m always looking for someone to love me back,’ he said.
‘I’ve got a lot to give but, I want it back. Probably even more than I want to give,’ he added.
Kyle began dating personal assistant, Tegan, following his split from his long-term girlfriend Imogen Anthony.
The radio titan announced his shock split from his girlfriend-of-eight-years on The Kyle and Jackie O Show in early November.
‘I’m always looking for love ‘: During Sunday night’s episode, Kyle (pictured with girlfriend Tegan) revealed his plans to ‘settle down and have children
He told listeners the couple ‘haven’t been living with each other’ for months and their relationship had simply ‘run its course’.
‘We haven’t been with each other for quite a few months now. Unfortunately it’s run its course,’ he said.
Tegan is director of communications for Sandilands’ company, King Kyle Pty Ltd, and was previously the radio star’s personal assistant.
Other parts of the interview reflected on the time they’ve spent getting to the top – and just how hard it is to maintain their status.
‘I’m always worried you’re going to say something and it’ll just ruin you,’ Henderson told Sandilands. ‘Staying at number one is harder than getting to number one.’
In response, Sandilands said he ‘doesn’t give a f**k’ – an ethos his management and network bosses have capitalised on throughout his career.
‘Millions of dollars of marketing has been spent on me being a bastard,’ he laughed, while describing Henderson as the ‘yin to my yang’.
Other parts of the interview reflected on the time they’ve spent getting to the top – and just how hard it is to maintain their status. Sandilands and Henderson are pictured with Cody Simpson
After living rough on the streets as a child and decades of mistreating his body, Sandilands revealed last year he had started taking better care of himself on doctors’ orders.
Other parts of the interview reflected on the time they’ve spent getting to the top – and just how hard it is to maintain their status.
‘I’m always worried you’re going to say something and it’ll just ruin you,’ Henderson told Sandilands. ‘Staying at number one is harder than getting to number one.’
In response, Sandilands said he ‘doesn’t give a f**k’ – an ethos his management and network bosses have capitalised on throughout his career.
‘Millions of dollars of marketing has been spent on me being a bastard,’ he laughed, while describing Henderson as the ‘yin to my yang’.
Sandilands’ girlfriend Tegan Kynaston had shared a photo to Instagram Stories on Sunday morning of the radio shock-jock, 48, cuddling up on the couch with his dog
After living rough on the streets as a child and decades of mistreating his body, Sandilands revealed last year he had started taking better care of himself on doctors’ orders.
In October 2019, he told The Daily Telegraph he was eating healthier, and had stopped drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and taking drugs.
‘Now, if I did one line, I’d be dead in five seconds,’ he said at the time.
Known as the ‘king and queen of Sydney radio’, Kyle and co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson are believed to be getting paid $8million each per year
He added: ‘I was like a teenage boy my entire life, and that caught up with me… so that had to get sorted out.’
He had taken cocaine and marijuana ‘on and off’ over the years, before deciding to completely cut them out of his life – as well as alcohol and sugary junk food.
‘I’ve still got high blood pressure and I’m still on medication like a mess,’ he added.
On May 1, Sandilands weighed himself on air and revealed he tipped the scales at 146kg – sixteen kilograms heavier than the last time he’d weighed himself.
‘Yep, I’ve gone up a bit!’ he said. ‘I’ve gone from 130kg to 146kg… I haven’t done a s**t yet, mind you.’
He had taken cocaine and marijuana ‘on and off’ over the years, before deciding to completely cut them out of his life – as well as alcohol and sugary junk food
He went on to say that he couldn’t ‘care less’ about the massive weight gain.
It comes after the 48-year-old was forced to deny reports in August 2018 he had ‘gone missing’ after failing to show up for work for several days in a row.
‘Stop looking, I’m not missing,’ Kyle said on air. ‘Apparently I was missing for days. We all know I was just sick.’
On May 1, Sandilands weighed himself on air and revealed he tipped the scales at 146kg – sixteen kilograms heavier than the last time he’d weighed himself. Pictured in 2015
He did not specify what his health problem was.
His regular fill-in host, Beau Ryan, had said earlier that week he didn’t know anything about Kyle’s illness.
Back in 2017 meanwhile, Sandilands was warned by a psychic he was ‘going to die of a heart attack’ the following year.
Before his recent weight gain, yo-yo dieter Sandilands had been trying to shed the kilos
While the psychic didn’t specify his death would be weight related, she did warn him to get a calcium score test done on his heart.
A calcium score test measures the calcium in your arteries to determine the risk of a heart attack or stroke.
In 2014, obesity specialist Dr Edward Jackowski warned that Sandilands would die young because of his weight and lifestyle.
Before his recent weight gain, Sandilands had been trying to shed the kilos.
Last June, he told Daily Mail Australia that he had dropped ‘three belt sizes’ in the span of 12 months.
‘I’m eating healthy and dropping off weight, but it’s a slow process,’ he said.
In 2014, obesity specialist Dr Edward Jackowski warned Sandilands would die young because of his weight and lifestyle
‘I’ve lost three belt sizes and people I haven’t seen for ages are surprised when they see me, they all tell me I’ve lost weight.’
Sandilands said he had started exercising and was enjoying the benefits of a healthy meal delivery plan.
He also stopped some of his worst habits, such as drinking ‘two litres of Coca-Cola and two litres of milk every day’.
‘I was eating s**t before and I’m so stubborn that I never wanted to listen when people told me to get in shape,’ he explained.
‘I was grossly overweight and it was making me sick. My health is so much better now.’