Radio legend “Ugly” Phil O’Neil has opened up about the current state of his relationship with ex-wife Jackie “O” Henderson in a candid new interview.
He also speaks for the first time about his private six-year battle with multiple sclerosis, a potentially disabling disease of the brain and central nervous system.
Speaking on the latest episode of LiSTNR’s The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show, O’Neil reflects on his “secret” marriage to Jackie O, back in the ’90s when they were co-hosting a nightly radio show together.
More than 20 years after they split, O’Neil admitted it could be slightly frustrating to still be referred to as “Jackie O’s ex”.
“That’s my claim to fame, my pub quiz answer: ‘Who’s the ex-husband of Jackie O?’” he told host Jess Rowe.
“I was at a pub in Glebe, and that question was asked, phrased ‘What ex-famous person used to be married to Jackie O?’ The worst thing was, nobody knew the answer!”
The 59-year-old British-born DJ explained that he and Jackie O now work in the same building and see each other regularly. They even spoke that day, so he could inform her he would be appearing on Rowe’s podcast.
But he admitted it hadn’t always been that way, as the pair navigated a “rocky” period during their initial break-up, made all the more difficult because they kept their relationship quiet from listeners.
“It was difficult – whenever two people part who were married, there’s a rocky period. To continue doing a radio show in the middle of that, especially when people didn’t know we were married, was difficult – but we worked our way through it,” he said.
After they split, Jackie O entered into perhaps the most lucrative partnership in Australian radio history with co-host Kyle Sandilands. The pair have been on-air for more than 20 years and command multimillion-dollar annual salaries.
“She’s been very, very successful at what she does. She has a great show and she’s worked very hard to get where she is. But our on-air period was a long time ago,” said O’Neil.
Both he and Henderson since remarried – she was married to UK photographer Lee Henderson from 2003 to 2018, while he wed iHeartRadio producer Samantha Clarke earlier this year.
Elsewhere in the interview, O’Neil spoke out about the diagnosis that “broke” him six years ago and how he’s doing, dealing with multiple sclerosis.
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“I broke down. I cried. (Wife) Sam cried. For about 10 hours. The following morning I woke up and went, ‘Well, this is day one, I’m going to see my neurologist.’”
But he said he was determined to keep a positive outlook as he deals with the illness, which has made him undergo some big diet and lifestyle changes to better manage his symptoms.
“When you initially get diagnosed you worry about other things, like how will your friends act, how will people judge me. You don’t want to be the guy with MS. I have MS, but MS doesn’t have me,” he said.
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