Ben Fordham has weighed in on the Kyle and Jackie O drama, saying the signs of the iconic radio partnership fraying were there long before the on-air fight that ended it all.
The 49-year-old, who hosts his own show, 2GB’s Ben Fordham Live, recalls listening in to the Kyle and Jackie O Show and hearing an exchange that made him think something was not right in the partnership.
“I remember listening one day about a year and a half ago where Kyle Sandilands said to Jackie O Henderson, ‘You’re not listening to me anymore’,” Fordham recalled on the Bonafide with Luke Bona podcast.
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“And she said, ‘Yeah, you’re probably right, ’cause I’ve heard it all before, Kyle.’
“I remember hearing a few of those things thinking, ‘It stopped being a bit fun.'”
Another time he recalled Sandilands was talking about sex, as he usually would, when he asked his co-host a very personal question and whether she had done the act before.
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“She said, ‘I think I’ve given up enough of my personal life on this show, Kyle’,” Fordham recalled.
“That was another moment where I heard it and went, ‘Ooh.'”
He explained what he thinks happened between the pair over the years.
“See, I think Jackie grew as a human being,” Fordham said.
“She got interested in self-help, meditation, bit of yoga, bit of astrology, and good on her, she lost all the weight. She looks a million dollars.
“I think she became a healthier version of herself. And I think Kyle probably struggled with that a little bit, seeing her develop while he was still stuck where he was.”
Last month, Fordham weighed in on the critical “mistake” Sandilands made that led to the fallout between him and Henderson.
Fordham told Behind the Mic with Mike E host Michael Etheridge the conversation between the radio legends should have never played out on air.
“If Kyle had said to Jackie off air, ‘Babe, your interest in astrology is driving me nuts’, I reckon Jackie probably would have said ‘oh right’,” he said.
During their on-air row on February 20, Henderson read from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s astrology birth chart when things kicked off.
Sandilands told her the “obsession” with astrology had made her “almost unworkable,” adding, “You’re off with the fairies with this s–t, it’s mental.”
Following the argument, Henderson’s contract with the Australian Radio Network (ARN) was terminated as she could no longer work with Sandilands, while he was suspended for two weeks to respond to accusations of misconduct by the radio station.
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Now, both her and Sandilands have each filed wrongful termination lawsuit against their employer ARN, which came before the federal court on Friday.
Henderson chose not to attend the management hearing, where client attendance is not mandatory.
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Instead, her close friend and manager Gemma O’Neill observed proceedings.
While Sandilands played to the cameras, exactly as he did at his first court appearance on March 27, Henderson’s absence spoke volumes about her shift toward a more private, post-KIIS life.
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