Do we like Jackie O Henderson?
Our score: 6 out of 10. No harmful words of her own turned up, but she co-fronted a show with repeated regulator breaches, and her biggest fight is still before the court.
For nearly two decades she was half of one of Australia's biggest breakfast shows. Variety reported she and Kyle Sandilands signed a reported 10-year deal worth about $200 million with ARN in 2023, running to 2034. Then it all blew up in public.
On 20 February this year Sandilands criticised her work on air, including her interest in astrology. She called the exchange “mean and nasty” and walked out. ARN said she could not continue to work with him, ended her contract on 3 March and took the show off air. ARN also told Sandilands it considered his conduct on that broadcast serious misconduct.
Jackie says she did not quit. In a 6 March statement through her manager she said she “did not quit or resign”, and that the media narrative did not reflect what happened. She is suing ARN, alleging unlawful adverse action and breach of contract. ARN denies wrongdoing and says her refusal to keep presenting with Sandilands let it terminate.
It's getting spicy in court. ARN's amended defence alleges her threat to report the matter to SafeWork NSW was not made in good faith and was aimed at winning a different timeslot. The Nightly's report didn't carry a response from her to that. Her lawyers' complaint, per the October report, said she was willing to present in another timeslot.
Harm check. The regulator's rulings were largely about Sandilands. In 2023 the ACMA found his mpox comments stereotyped gay men and breached decency rules, and the report doesn't describe her saying anything on air about it. In 2025 it found a June 2024 episode breached the code with vulgar sexualised content. That's the asterisk: she kept turning up to that show, but we found no harmful words of her own.
Her own record on women reads better. Mediaweek's timeline says that in a January 2025 interview she said boys' clubs still exist in media and that women are often dismissed. Industry sources told Mediaweek it was long understood that it was Kyle's show. We found no vaccine, climate or trans-rights material from her.