EXCLUSIVE
Within moments of Andrew O’Keefe being slid onto the presenters’ couch for Weekend Sunrise’s biggest broadcast of the year, the show’s producers knew they had a problem.
There was something wrong with the regular host.
At first they were concerned about the strange way he walked and how he looked somewhat dazed and confused.
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.
Within moments of Andrew O’Keefe being slid onto the presenter’s couch next to “confused” co-host Angela Cox, the show’s producers knew they had a problem
The country’s main morning news program had planned every second of its extensive coverage for months as convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby returned to Australia from Bali
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?’
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 went into free fall when he ‘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.
Concerned viewers were concerned about O’Keefe’s unusual antics during the live broadcast
Seven’s army of spin doctors claimed O’Keefe was simply overwhelmed by Corby’s dramatic homecoming and dismissed suggestions he was “tired and emotional” on the radio.
While the network attempted to publicly save face — and protect O’Keefe from rumors that he had his act together amid lurid industry-wide gossip about his wild partying — tensions on the set ran high.
Colleagues became increasingly concerned about his well-being and questionable life choices, and Seven’s news bosses wanted him out.
In December, O’Keefe announced the inevitable.
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.
What he didn’t reveal is that the erratic behavior that hampered his Sunrise career had also destroyed his relationship with his now ex-wife.
By that point she had already left him, along with their children.
Although O’Keefe would remain at Seven for another three years as presenter of the popular game show The Chase Australia, his time as morning news presenter was over. The countdown to his time at the network had begun.
As he spiraled further out of control and slid from one scandal to another, it seemed that nothing could stop the terminal decline of one of the country’s most talented stars.
This week he remains in custody after nearly dying of a heroin overdose in his modest apartment in Sydney’s east.
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
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.
After his release, he was arrested and charged with drug possession and violating bail conditions.
The troubled artist was not in court for his case on Tuesday and his lawyer has not filed a request for bail, meaning O’Keefe 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.