Jackie ‘O’ Henderson asked her bosses at Australian Radio Network (ARN) to step in and put a stop to Kyle Sandilands’ behaviour towards her six months before the on-air argument that ended their careers.
The allegation is contained in an application filed on March 30 in the Federal Court of Australia, which was released by the courts today.
The court documents, seen by nine.com.au, show Henderson complained about Sandilands after an incident back in August 2025, when she accused him of berating her during their popular show and said she was on “period time”.
That was six months before her on-air clash with Sandilands in February 2026 that ended their working partnership.
After the August incident, Henderson reportedly demanded the chairman and chief executive of ARN, which owns KIIS FM, intervene to stop Sandilands treating her as if they were in an “abusive relationship”, the court documents show.
Henderson also reportedly brought Sandilands’ behaviour to the attention of ARN bosses in text messages back in February.
She is now seeking more than $82 million in compensation from ARN after it tore up her contract.
READ MORE: Malcolm in the Middle star clears up memory loss claims
READ MORE: Tammin Sursok shares brutal reality of life as an actor
READ MORE: Friends star Lisa Kudrow reveals cruel taunt during show’s heyday
Henderson is also claiming the station breached workplace rules by retaliating against her after she exercised her rights to complain about Sandilands’ behaviour.
Henderson’s lawyers claim she was not offered a new show by ARN before the company terminated her contract on March 3, despite the network telling the stock market and the public that it had.
Her lawyers are also arguing that the radio network made no attempt to intervene during Sandilands’ rant on February 20 – the last time the two were on-air together.
The court filing reportedly contains text messages that show Henderson told ARN executives after the February incident that his claims she had an obsession with astrology and was acting unprofessionally were “unfair, inappropriate and completely unprovoked”.
The documents also show Henderson raised concerns with KIIS FM station manager Derek Bargwanna in August, following complaints from listeners.
“On 11 September 2025, Ms Henderson sent a text message to Mr Bargwanna, in response, and said, ‘Yeah it’s fine today. But let’s make sure [chairman] Hamish [McLennan] and [then-chief executive] Ciaran [Davis] start to think about how to address this,” the document states.
“We are getting a lot of complaints from listeners, calling it an abusive relationship, women especially.
“I can send you though some [of] the examples.”
Bargwanna then told Henderson that he was “all over that” and had spoken with both Davis and McLennan twice about the issue.
The document also claims Henderson complained about Sandilands’ conduct on August 20, when he made “offensive and degrading” comments about her personal and dating life, including saying “you’ll never find anyone because there is, all of these requirements that you have…”
For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here.
The court document also lists a number of communications showing senior ARN executives were aware from September 2025 about Henderson’s complaints.
Her lawyers will likely argue this supports claims the February 20 incident was not an isolated conflict.
According to Henderson’s statement of claim, which was filed on March 30, she was unfairly terminated. She is asking for compensation of “at least” $82,250,000.
Her statement of claim alleges that the ASX announcement detailing her termination on March 3 included “misleading and deceptive statements” under Australian Consumer Law.
In a statement to the ASX last Tuesday, ARN said Henderson had made “psychosocial health and safety and bullying complaints” to the station in relation to Sandilands’ conduct toward her both on February 20 and prior to this.
It told the market she had declared she could not work with Sandilands, which effectively ended her contract.
Sandilands has filed his own action in the Federal Court after his contract was torn up over what the company said was “serious misconduct” relating to his behaviour toward Henderson on February 20.
nine.com.au has reached out to ARN for comment.
Details of the on-air blow-up that derailed Kyle and Jackie O’s $200 million deal
The on-air fight began after Jackie O read from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s astrology birth chart and Sandilands complained about her interest in astrology charts.
“Your fixation on this has made you almost unworkable,” Sandilands told her.
“You are off with the fairies with this s—, it’s mental.”
He claimed her fixation on astrology charts made her sound like a “drug addict”.
Henderson has previously opened up on air about addiction issues that led to her going to rehabilitation in the US in 2022.
Henderson said Sandilands’ accusations were “so unfair” and that he was attacking her on air.
“I would never say things like that about you,” she said.
“It’s a total attack, it really is. Kyle, to say ‘you don’t know what the F is going on, you’re not doing your job,’ that’s an attack and I wouldn’t do that.”
Sandilands and Henderson have been in an on-air partnership for 27 years.
They moved to breakfast in 2005 and then to KIIS in 2014.
They have been under contract in a lucrative $200 million, 10-year deal that was set to run until December 2034.
FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.
