Jackie O had no interest in working in radio. Then she met her first husband.

Iconic radio host and media personality Jackie 'O' Henderson was not always the charming radio host we know as Jackie 'O'. 

In fact, in her new memoir, The Whole Truth, Jackie shared that she, as surprising as it seems now, had never intended to work in radio in the first place. That was until she met her first husband, Phil O'Neil, a radio DJ and announcer.

In the book, Jackie details the period when she packed up her life and moved to Canberra in order to support Phil's radio career. At the time, she was working temp jobs and recalls the boring and stagnant nature of the roles she took on. 

"I'd work at a law firm one week, a car dealership the next, and a computer repair company the week after," she wrote. 

"No one wants to teach you anything, or get to know you at  all, when you're only there for a few days, so you get given all the s**t jobs and you make a lot of coffees." 

Watch Jackie O and her daughter Kitty's viral moment with Mister Lewis.

However, during a visit to Sydney one weekend, Jackie recalled visiting one of Phil's friends at Triple M and being transfixed by the office and work environment. It was a very small taste of the broadcasting career she would one day go on to pursue. 

"The studio overlooked all of the city, and I remember thinking, 'Wow, what an amazing place to work', even though I had no broadcast dreams of my own at that point. I only wanted then what was best for Phil," she recalled. 

It wasn't until six months later when they moved to Adelaide that Jackie's radio career started.

Phil was working to transform an old FM station into the South Australian version of Triple M. One night, after the woman who worked the phones at the radio station had been abruptly fired, Phil called Jackie and asked her to help out. She reluctantly agreed. 

"Phil kept asking me to fill in, and then I had to do some on-air shout-outs — hellos to the callers — and he suggested I stay on and work there. It was odd, as I had no real interest in radio – quite the opposite," she wrote. 

Jackie O and her ex-husband Phil O'Neil. Image: Twitter/Phil O'Neil

One day, a Triple M Consultant was visiting, when they heard one of Jackie's off-the-cuff remarks on air. And immediately they asked for her to get her own segment. And the rest is history. 

During her time on Triple M, Jackie had earned the nickname 'Jackie the Phone Tart' (which she hated). So, when things started to take off, she requested a name change. And aren't we glad she did. 

"I remember I asked right then if I could change my name when we moved to Victoria. Thank god I did, because  that  first nickname might otherwise have stuck. Instead, I got a new name. Being married to 'Phil O'Neil' would make me 'Jackie O'Neil'... so the nickname was obvious: I became Jackie O." 

This is the not the first time that Jackie has credited Phil for his part in her successful career. In 2022, when she was inducted into the Australian Commercial Radio Awards Hall of Fame, Jackie gave Phil a special mention and thanked him for his help.

"Ugly Phil. I do have to acknowledge Ugly Phil," she said during her speech, "Ugly Phil is an absolute class act and I wouldn't be where I am now [if it wasn't for him].

"I'll always be thankful for the opportunities that you have given me and shown me," she said. 

"The passion and the need for hard work in radio has stayed with me until this day. So I'm not sure where you are but thank you."

Feature image: Getty.