Jackie O Henderson reveals biggest fear about going public with addiction battle in emotional interview with Nat Barr on Sunrise

Radio queen Jackie ‘O’ Henderson says she feared for her daughter Kitty’s reaction to her recent public admission of her battle with pill addiction, during a raw interview with Nat Barr on Sunrise.

Henderson made the tearful admission on KIIS FM’s The Kyle and Jackie O Show last month, confessing she was “badly addicted,” to painkillers, sleeping pills and alcohol for three years.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Nat Barr’s raw interview with radio star Jackie ‘O’ Henderson.

In November 2022 she checked into rehab for a month-long stay at the Betty Ford Centre in Palm Springs, California.

Although the public was unaware of her struggle at the time, Henderson wrote extensively about it in her new memoir, Jackie O: The Whole Truth.

On Wednesday, Henderson sat down with Barr, who asked her about her fears of going public with the debilitating addiction, and the effect on her 13-year-old daughter 13.

“I noticed you dedicated the book to Kitty. Was there a point where you thought: ‘I don’t want to write this book because my daughter will have to read all this?’” Barr asked.

“That was my number one concern,” Henderson replied, clearly emotional.

“When you write a book, it affects people you’re writing about and it affects, obviously, my daughter’s life. She has to go to school every day. It was really important that we discussed that, and I got a gauge on how she felt.”

At the height of her addiction, Henderson said she was using half tablets to stop her body from going into withdrawal — with the possibility of vomiting and diarrhea — while taking care of her daughter.

“When you were taking all these drugs and drinking at the same time, where was Kitty?” Barr asked.

“The days that I had Kitty that was the hardest part ... that I feel the most guilty about, because I was taking half tablets here and there, just to stop the withdrawals,” Henderson said.

“With that, came a mum that wasn’t her happy self. I look back on that and I think ‘I can’t believe I was like that. I can’t believe I did that.’ I don’t feel like I was the best mum during that period.”

Following her disclosure about her addiction, Henderson has been criticised for going to The Betty Ford Centre in Palm Springs where treatment can cost between $A45,000 and $A90,000 for a month-long stay.

Barr asked: “People online say: ‘It’s OK for her. She can afford to go to Betty Ford and pay all this money.’ Does any of that hurt?”

“No, I think that is the truth. I am privileged, where I was able to do that. I went out of the country, not because I wanted to go to a luxurious rehab centre. I was going for the program and also for the privacy,” Henderson said.

“But in terms of being able to afford rehab, that was one thing that my eyes were really opened to once I shared my story. It was people who were telling me that they were saving money up to go to rehab.

“That really saddened me, because I thought, people shouldn’t have to save money to seek help like that.

“There are places that really do, for people who are struggling financially, help you out with that. And Odyssey House, who I’m donating the proceeds of the book, are amazing for that.”

Barr then referred to an interview the two women did while Jackie was an ambassador for Weight Watchers and Henderson admitted she was trapped deep in her addiction at that time.

“I remember ... just feeling like such a fraud,” she said.

“Every now and again, I would have to do something like an interview, and I would put on the hair and make-up, and you would maybe believe that I’m happy and, you know, what a great life I have. But it was so the opposite.”

However, Henderson was optimistic about her future.

“I do feel so much stronger (nowadays),” she said.

“I’ve learned so much about myself. But in a way, I’m so grateful I went through that, because the person I am now versus the person I was even before the addiction, they’re worlds apart, they really are. I do feel a lot stronger.”