Jackie ‘O’ Henderson has revealed she thought her ex-husband had died and was on the verge of breaking down crying after a colleague said he ‘was no longer with us’ live on-air.
The KIIS FM star said she initially feared the worst when her Peter ‘Intern Pete’ Deppeler disrupted the breakfast show star’s 50th birthday celebration on air on Friday to tell her they had ‘lost’ her first husband, ‘Ugly’ Phil O’Neil.
Just as Henderson was about to burst into tears, Doppler clarified O’Neil was simply leaving the network’s parent company, ARN, where he has hosted a hit morning show on sister station WSFM GOLD for the past fours years.
‘What an a***hole, I was honestly going to like burst into tears,’ she told her listeners.
‘That was brutal, it was. Honestly, in that moment my heart it was like… it honestly was like for a second I thought he had died.
‘I was just about to… I could feel the tears coming – and then he said, you know, he’s leaving ARN.’
Nine has poached Henderson’s ex just months after he became the first person to topple the network’s outgoing talkback radio titan Ray Hadley in the ratings for the first time in more than two decades.
The veteran broadcaster has now has quit his hit Mornings show on WSFM GOLD101.7 and is defecting to Nine’s flagship Sydney station 2GB, where he will front a newly rebuild overnights program.
Jackie ‘O’ Henderson was celebrating her 50th birthday live on air when she was told that her first husband ‘Ugly’ Phil O’Neil was ‘no longer with us’ and she thought he had died
O’Neil was briefly married to fellow radio star Jackie ‘O’ Henderson in the 90s (above, together)
The journeyman disc jockey, who has plied his trade at some of the country’s biggest radio networks throughout his four-decade career, including Nova, Triple M, 96FM and Star 104.5, will debut on Nine Radio on March 4.
O’Neil said his new overnight program, which will run Tuesdays to Fridays and also be heard on 2GB’s Brisbane-based sister station 4BC, would fulfil his long-held ambition to transition to talkback.
‘All the roads I’ve travelled have led to this moment,’ he said.
‘There are no finer radio stations to pursue my talk radio aspirations than at 2GB and 4BC.
‘This really is the most exciting and pivotal moment of my career.’
The move comes just months after O’Neil spectacularly unseated outgoing 2GB morning host Ray Hadley in his second-last ratings survey last November before hanging up his microphone for the final time last month.
The surprise victory was the culmination of four years of work at WSFM by O’Neil, who joined the western Sydney outfit in 2020 and gradually built his morning show audience while claiming the industry ACRA Award for Best Music Host last year.
He said he was sad to be leaving his ‘second home’ but looking forward to the new challenge of winning over yet another new audience.
O’Neil has quit his hit WSGM GOLD morning show and defected to talkback station 2GB
‘WSFM GOLD101.7 has been more than just my radio station for the last four years, it’s been my second home,’ O’Neil said.
‘I’ll definitely miss the laughs with my fantastic co-workers and also the listeners who have become such great friends. Heck…I might even miss playing Roxette!!’
The GOLD Network’s head of content, Sue Carter, said they had agreed to release O’Neil from his contract early so he could follow his talkback dream and that he left the media company on good terms.
‘Phil is one of a kind, I’ve known him for decades and over that time I’ve seen his passion for radio only get stronger,’ she said.
‘When he told us he had an opportunity to host an overnight program on 2GB, we didn’t hesitate to release him of any contractual obligations.
‘While we’ll miss him on air, we’re excited for him as he embarks on this next adventure.
‘We send him off with our best wishes and a huge thank you for everything he has brought to the station.’
Nine Radio Content Manager Greg Byrnes said signing O’Neil was a coup for both the network and its listeners.
O’Neil has been working out of the same building as his ex-wife and fellow radio star Jackie ‘O’ Henderson and her breakfast show co-host Kyle Sandilands for the past four years
O’Neil briefly became Sydney’s new top morning show radio host in his timeslot last November
‘Phil will bring fresh energy to overnights and is an exciting addition to our new lineups in Sydney and Brisbane,’ he said.
‘He’s engaging, entertaining and has a loyal following. Phil loves talk radio and our early morning listeners are going to love getting to know him’.
When the WSFM radio presenter dethroned Hadley in Sydney’s hotly contested mornings timeslot in November, it was the first time 2GB’s long-reigning radio king had lost a ratings survey in two decades.
O’Neil, who hosts his show from 9am to 1pm, took out the pole position after attracting 12.7 per cent share of the available audience, lifting 0.5 percentage points.
Hadley had enjoyed an unbeaten 160 ratings survey run, when his show dropped 1.3 percentage points, pulling in 11.1 per cent share, coming third after smoothfm 95.3 with 11.2 per cent of the audience.
However, he regained top spot the following month in his last-ever radio ratings survey before retiring.
Phil began his radio career in the 1990s as the host of the Hot30 Countdown before landing roles on Nova 969 and Triple M.
In 2004, he returned to the UK and worked in radio before eventually travelling back to Australia.
O’Neil toppled 2GB’s Ray Hadley in the talkback titan’s second last ratings survey before his retirement, only for the outgoing host to regain top spot the following month
Jackie ‘O’ Henderson met ‘Ugly’ Phil O’Neil while he was hosting a radio show on the Gold Coast (pictured together at the time with a Michael Jackson impersonator)
The move to WSFM saw him working out of the same building as his ex-wife Jackie ‘O’ Henderson, who co-hosts popular FM breakfast show on ARN’s KIIS 106.5 which airs from 6am to 10am weekdays.
Henderson and her co-host Kyle Sandilands have once again claimed the top position for their breakfast time slot despite a drop to 13.1 per cent of the audience.
The couple met while working together on the Gold Coast in the 1990s, after an 18-year-old Henderson called into the radio show O’Neil was hosting at the time to enter a competition, and married just a year later.
Their split in 1999 led to their radio show ending and Phil returning to the UK.
Henderson went on to marry Lee Henderson ,with whom she shares daughter, Kitty, 12, before they broke up 2018 after 15 years of marriage.
Jackie and Phil split in 1999. She went on to marry Lee Henderson with whom she shares her daughter, Kitty, 12. The pair separated in 2018 after 15 years of marriage. (All pictured)
Jackie has not publicly dated anyone since the split, but British photographer Lee has moved on with jujitsu instructor Gabriella Motta.
Asked about her first marriage by KIIS FM newsreader Brooklyn Ross on-air last year, Henderson declined to reveal who was responsible for their split.
‘When I was married to Ugly Phil, he was a big radio star and I was working 9 to 5 at a real estate agency,’ Jackie explained.
Brooklyn then asked: ‘I know this is ancient history but did you leave him or did he leave you?’
‘How dare you Brooklyn. My own friend,’ a shocked Jackie responded.
Read the full article here