Review: The Whole Truth by Jackie O

When I first heard that Australian radio host Jackie Henderson, better known by her on-air alias Jackie O was to be releasing her memoir, I cringed just a little. After all, why did someone who has enjoyed an extremely successful and well paid career as the cohost of a highly sensational and divisive breakfast radio show, need to write a memoir? Who would read it? Did I want to read it? Well, not initially. Then the news came through that the memoir would discuss her deeply personal struggles with painkiller addiction, one which she had managed to successfully hide from the public before, during and after her recovery. Also, the profits from her book would be donated to Odessey House, which would help others break free from their addiction. Maybe, just maybe, she had a story to tell after all ...

This proved to be an interesting read in places. I enjoyed the early chapters in which she details how she started in radio, perhaps even more so because I actually remember listening to her on back when she got her start at Triple M Adelaide. (And contrary to her suggestion at what some of the young, teenage listeners thought when they saw her through the window at the studio on Currie Street, no I did not think she was a slut.) She also details some of the things that went on behind the scenes. She was nineteen when she married Ugly Phil O'Neil, who was thirty. The pair moved interstate, away from her family. She was not getting paid for her work on her husband's radio show. She also details some incidents in the relationship where she blames herself for not setting boundaries, but I can only imagine how difficult that would have been for anyone in a similar situation. 

The memoir also details her rise to fame as a radio host and her eventual pairing with Kyle Sandilands. She details some of the controversial moments from the show, ones that received extensive media coverage at the time. I would have actually appreciated a more in depth analysis about what she actually learned from those moments, because at times it feels as though she regrets things she comes across both in the book and on the air, as being quite complicit to many of the things that her co-host has been routinely, and deservedly, criticised for in the media over the course of his career. (I will not be listing them here, as this is not the purpose of writing this book review.) 

The memoir gets interesting again when she details her experiences of addiction and treatment and it is these moments, along with her mentions of her family life that stand out.

The Whole Truth may not have been a standout memoir for me, it did have some interesting moments and I felt that the chapters on addiction may be incredibly comforting, or at least insightful, to someone who has been through a similar experience.

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