Jackie ‘O’ Henderson breaks down as she reveals she wasn’t always sure she would wake up at the height of her pill addiction: ‘Someone was watching out for me!’

Jackie ‘O’ Henderson broke down in tears on Monday night as she detailed her harrowing battle with addiction. 

The radio titan sat down with A Current Affair and revealed her life got so bleak at one point following the collapse of her 18-year marriage to photographer Lee Henderson, it’s a miracle she survived. 

‘I coped really badly. I didn’t do it the healthy way, that’s for sure,’ she told host Allison Langdon.

‘I thought the answer was, ‘Oh, I’ll have a drink instead. It was a horrible existence of just not remembering, not wanting to think, feel, do,’ she went on. 

In a shocking confession, Jackie disclosed that at her worst, she was consuming up to 24 Panadeine Forte and 12 Stilnox sleeping pills daily.

‘I don’t know how I woke up either… someone was watching out for me,’ the mother-of-one admitted.

The entertainment veteran went on to reveal she would routinely wake up gasping for breath, describing the terrifying sensation as if she’d ‘stopped breathing’ during the night.

When asked if she cared whether she survived, Jackie answered with stark honesty.

The radio titan sat down with A Current Affair and revealed her life got so bleak at one point following the collapse of her 18-year marriage to photographer Lee Henderson, it’s a miracle she survived

‘I coped really badly. I didn’t do it the healthy way, that’s for sure,’ she told host Allison Langdon. Pictured with former husband Lee Henderson in 2004

‘Not really. I don’t think so,’ she replied.

‘It just goes to show how looks can be deceiving, right?’ she added. 

Although Jackie has spoken about her rehab journey before, she shed new light on how closely she kept the ordeal hidden.

‘The only people that knew were my mum and dad, my brother, my personal assistant, and my best friend,’ she revealed.

Even her longtime on-air partner, Kyle Sandilands, had no idea.

‘He joked, ‘Oh God, are you going to rehab?’ when I said I needed time off,’ Jackie recalled.

When asked if she cared whether she survived, Jackie answered with stark honesty. ‘Not really. I don’t think so,’ she replied. Pictured with host Allison Langdon

She remained tight-lipped, and Kyle never suspected the real reason behind her absence.

Opening up about her decision to finally reveal her journey, Jackie reflected, ‘It was really important…to tell it the way I wanted it to be told.’

She added that she hopes her experience inspires others to seek help.

‘It’s so hard to put your hand up…if anyone puts their hand up and says, ‘I’m going to rehab because I want to save myself…they shouldn’t feel like they have to hide it.’