I’m hard to get on with, I just want want want: Kyle Sandilands on 60 Minutes

“They warn you in breakfast radio that 5 years is the maximum… the fact that we’ve made it to 20 is unbelievable,” Jackie Henderson told Karl Stefanovic in a report on 60 Minutes.

In the profile piece about Kyle Sandilands, Stefanovic chronicles how there are no airs and graces with Kyle and Jackie, which is exactly what their fans love.  

What did Jackie think when she was first teamed up with Kyle? “I though he was a disaster,” she tells Stefanovic.

“I was a disaster,” replies Kyle, “but I thought, this is the best job I will ever have.”

After Kyle and Jackie were teamed up together by their bosses, it took Jackie only two shows to have doubts. “On the second night I though, this is not going to work out… The bosses said just stick with it for a while, give him a chance.”

And she did. The pair have now been on air together for two decades. Their opposite personalities explain some of the magic they have together. “It’s a ying and yang thing,” says Kyle.

Asking about their year’s new five year contract, reported to be worth $50 million, Stefanovic wanted to know if it is really that much? Kyle’s answer was, “yes.”

Jackie said: “Don’t believe everything you hear.”

Discussing some of their controversial comments and stunts, Jackie says those things are never planned. After many ups and downs, “we’ve learnt the lesson about going too far,” says Jackie. But she does not want to take on the responsibility for Kyle. “I’m not his mother, it’s not my responsibility to pull Kyle up.”

With a show as edgy as the Kyle and Jackie O Show, Jackie says she doesn’t let her eight year old daughter listen to the show. “I will have some explaining to do in a few years,” she says.

Speaking about his physical and mental health, Kyle told Stefanovic: “I’ve wrapped a protection layer around myself. If people close to me do me wrong that hurts me the most.

“I’m always looking for love. I’m looking for someone to love me back… I’m hard to get on with, I just want want want.”

Kyle revealed in the 60 Minutes interview, as he strapped a blood pressure monitor to his wrist, that his blood pressure is “good for first time in 15 years. Maybe I can get this under control and not die without warning,” he said.

Talking to the pair together, Stefanovic asked what Kyle would like to say to Jackie. He answered: “If I died tomorrow, I love you… it’s been wonderful.”

Then he tearily said he had a condition he had not told anyone about. As Jackie looked shocked and began to cry he told her he was only joking.

“I don’t know what’s real or not,” commented Stefanovic.



Speaking on his show thiks morning, Kyle and Jackie and their listeners went deeper into Kyle’s problems, discussing the 60 Minutes crying segment in more detail, with Jackie and the listeners trying to help Kyle.
 

“The honest truth of why I was about to cry with all that breakdown stuff is because inside, I’m very, very sad. But it wasn’t the right forum to bring it up,” said Kyle.

“When you said, ‘I’m very worried about him,’ a wave of emotion went through me, and I realised I was losing control, so I had to make something up as a joke.”

“(People) look at me and think, ‘yeah, you’re a fat bastard, you should be sad’,” he said in a discussion where Kyle went as deep into his feelings as he could go.

One listener rang to reassure him that he is loved and supported. Listen to the discussion in an excerpt from the show.



 

 
 

 

 

 


 


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