The presenter was absent on Monday after a disagreement with her co-host became personal.
Jackie “O” Henderson has stepped away from her KIIS FM radio show to “gather her thoughts” after co-host Kyle Sandilands appeared to question her work ethic in an on-air clash.
“You’re off with the fairies, you are unfocused, you don’t give a shit … everyone in this building has mentioned it to me,” Sandilands told Henderson on during last Friday’s episode of Kyle & Jackie O, after Sandilands accused his co-host of having a “fixation” with astrology while discussing the former prince Andrew.
On Monday, Sandilands told listeners his co-presenter was absent because she “wants a couple of days off to gather her thoughts”.
A producer from a rival network, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to comment publicly, speculated that the Sydney-based program’s poor performance in Melbourne – where its audience share hit a new low of 5 per cent at the end of last year – might be taking a toll on the high-profile hosts.
“They’re under enormous pressure to make this work,” the producer said. “If it’s true that they’re being paid $200 million between them [over 10 years], and they’re only ranked No.8 in Melbourne, they must be feeling the strain.”
This masthead has approached Michael Stephenson, the chief executive of ARN – which operates the national KIIS radio network – for comment. KIIS’s publicists and producers have also been contacted.
It is unclear whether management or Henderson herself initiated the break from Kyle & Jackie O, or when she will return.
One network publicist said KIIS was considering releasing a media statement later on Monday.
On Friday, the duo addressed the growing scandal surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, when Henderson proceeded to read out the disgraced ex-prince’s astrological “birth chart”.
Sandilands then launched a verbal spray against his co-star.
‘You’re not doing the rest of the job, and everyone in the building has mentioned it to me.’
Kyle Sandilands’ on-air spray at co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson
“As I said, fascinating, but I don’t think it should be at the detriment of everything else on the show; this relentless research,” he said. “It’s affecting other things – like, your fixation on this has made you almost unworkable. You’re off with the fairies with this shit. It’s mental.”
When Henderson challenged him to provide an example of her alleged lack of focus, he replied, “Listen to the program, you’ll hear yourself.”
Shocked, Henderson said, “I totally am offended by you saying something like that.”
The spat only got worse from there.
“Well, too bad if you are because that’s the reality of what we’re dealing with here,” Sandilands said. “It’s affecting everything else; you’re too fixated on it.
“Every segment, every time you’ve spoken, you don’t even know what’s going on … you’re not doing the rest of the job, and everyone in the building has mentioned it to me.”
Fighting back tears, Henderson said, “I would never say things like that about you. It’s a total attack, it really is … 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.”
In Sydney, where the Kyle & Jackie O show dominates the FM breakfast market, the pair ended 2025 with 12.7 per cent of the available audience.
The first radio ratings survey of 2026 will be released in mid-March.
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Michael Lallo is a senior culture writer at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
