In a remarkable twist of fate, Channel Seven presenter Angela Cox is tasked with presenting a news report on the sad demise of her former co-host, Andrew O’Keefe.
Presenting a report into O’Keefe’s chaotic appearance at Rose Bay police station on Monday and subsequent court hearing on Tuesday, Cox gave a blunt summary of her former co-star’s plight.
“Andrew O’Keefe has been told he is lucky to be alive and that prison is the best place for him to be if he wants to stay alive,” she told viewers.
‘The former TV presenter was given a hard blow by the judge when he appeared in court – again – just days after he overdosed on heroin.’
The remarkable shift from acting alongside O’Keefe to reporting on his life-and-death struggle comes after Daily Mail Australia rediscovered the vision for the duo to present Weekend Sunrise in 2017.
In the video that was found, it was already clear that there was a problem when O’Keefe slid onto the presenters’ couch during the most important broadcast of the year.
There was something wrong with the regular host.
Initially, the show’s producers were concerned about the strange way he walked and how he looked somewhat dazed and confused.
Angela Cox introduced a story about her former co-star Andrew O’Keefe’s chaotic appearance at Rose Bay police station on Monday and subsequent court hearing on Tuesday (pictured)
The extraordinary turnaround from starring with O’Keefe to reporting on his life-and-death struggles comes after Daily Mail Australia rediscovered the vision for the duo to present Weekend Sunrise in 2017 (pictured)
Then he began to speak.
His speech was unclear, his remarks were erratic and inappropriate – and then there were the strange, spontaneous fits of laughter.
It was Saturday, May 28, 2017, and the country’s most popular breakfast news program was reporting on the most anticipated event of the year.
Nearly 12 years after she was convicted of attempting to smuggle 4.2kg of cannabis into Bali, Schapelle Corby returned to Australia.
The show’s hardworking producers and crew had been planning every moment of the network’s extensive coverage for months.
Now it looked like their efforts would be overshadowed by the strange behavior of the show’s star host.
At one point during the broadcast, Angela Cox, O’Keefe’s co-host, admitted that his random gibberish even “confused” her.
He was later caught openly looking at his mobile phone during a live broadcast with a Weekend Sunrise reporter.
It wasn’t long before Seven’s switchboard was flooded with calls from concerned viewers: ‘Is AOK OK?’ ‘Is he having a stroke?’ ‘He looks “tired and emotional”‘ ‘Is he drunk on TV?’
Concerned viewers were concerned about O’Keefe’s unusual antics during the live broadcast
Daily Mail Australia was the first outlet to notice the strange spectacle that unfolded at Seven’s famous Martin Place studios in Sydney.
But within minutes of the story about the star’s unusual antics being published just after 8am, Seven’s army of spinners had already sprung into action.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with O’Keefe, they insisted.
He was simply overwhelmed by Corby’s dramatic homecoming.
Behind the scenes, they knew better. The famous star’s life was in free fall as he ‘self-medicated’ himself with drugs and alcohol.
Asked about O’Keefe’s troubling performance in 2017 this week, Seven insiders struggled to pinpoint the cause.
Not because it was so trivial, but because it had become so disturbingly commonplace that year.
“Are you slurring your words on the radio in 2017? When?!,” a senior source replied when asked about it by Daily Mail Australia.
O’Keefe arrives at Rose Bay police station on Monday to face drug charges following a shocking heroin overdose at his eastern suburbs apartment over the weekend
After 12 years as Weekend Sunrise presenter, he stepped down to spend more time with his ‘real family’: his wife Eleanor Campbell, a social worker, and their three children, Barnaby, Rory and Olivia.
This week he remains in custody after nearly dying of a heroin overdose in his modest apartment in Sydney’s east.
Emergency services managed to resuscitate the 52-year-old man and rushed him to St Vincent’s Hospital in nearby Darlinghurst in the early hours of Saturday morning.
He was later arrested and charged with drug possession and violating bail conditions.
O’Keefe was not present in court when his case was heard on Tuesday and his lawyer has not applied for bail, meaning he will remain in custody.
Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge’s message was blunt: “He’s lucky to be alive… if he wants to stay alive, (staying in prison) is the best thing he can do.”
‘God help him, and it’s a pity he has no revelation.’
O’Keefe has the next three weeks to reflect on his tragic fate before he appears in court again on October 10.