A secret marriage and besties with boybanders. Where is 'Ugly' Phil now?

Before there was Kyle Sandilands, there was ‘Ugly Phil’ O’Neil. Back in the '90s and early noughties he ruled the airwaves alongside his then-wife ‘Jackie O’ Henderson, with their Hot 30 Countdown radio show.

It was a time when there was no social media, the internet was just emerging, and we’d record our favourite hits (courtesy of Phil) on our reliable cassette players. The Hot 30 Countdown was a nightly ritual for millennials, and it showed, because it was Australia’s number-one radio program.

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From Hanson to B*Witched and Kylie Minogue – just to name-drop a few – the radio legend was the vital link between us everyday plebs and the biggest celebs of the time.

A lot’s happened since those glory days on the air, which is why we thought we'd take a look into the life of Ugly Phil circa 2023. Hint: he obviously isn’t married to Jackie O anymore, but he’s still in the biz in a big way.

He hates being known as “Jackie O’s ex”.

“That’s my claim to fame, my pub quiz answer: ‘Who’s the ex-husband of Jackie O?’” the now-60-year-old said on The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show in 2022.

“I was at a pub in [Sydney suburb] Glebe and that question was asked, phrased ‘What ex-famous person used to be married to Jackie O?’ The worst thing was, nobody knew the answer!”

According to the Daily Mail, Jackie met Phil after winning concert tickets on his show. That was in 1993, and she was just 18. A year later, she’d scored the coveted co-hosting gig and by 1995 they’d married in secret.

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But there was no happily ever after. By 1999, the pair were done.

“It was difficult – whenever two people part who were married, there’s a rocky period. To continue doing a radio show in the middle of that, especially when people didn’t know we were married, was difficult – but we worked our way through it,” he said, until it became too much.

In the end, Phil wanted out. Speaking on theYou’ve Gotta Start Somewhere podcast, he called working with his ex-wife “all-consuming”, but he eventually quit the show because of none other than those beloved Hanson brothers.

Well, kind of.

“I was tired of doing the Hot 30,” he admitted. “I was like, ‘Hey, I’m 37 years old and I’m mates with guys from Hanson who are 15. I’m too old for this.” 

Sounds like our dream job, but okay!

But for Phil, his hometown – London – was calling. “I got offered a job in London to go and work there and I just needed to get away.”

By 2008, Phil was back in Oz, but returned to the UK again in 2019 to present Fix Radio’s breakfast show.

He was diagnosed with MS.

Since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2016, Phil’s been a huge advocate for sufferers. He’s also completely overhauled his life, so he can preserve it for as long as possible.

“It’s really a case of keeping yourself as fine-tuned as you possibly can, which was my health and diet,” he explained on The Raw Nerve podcast.

“I’d gone to the gym a lot beforehand, but my diet was pretty terrible. And I just did a complete overhaul of my life, complete overhaul, trying to keep my food as natural and as whole as possible.”

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An extension of that has been going to the gym five days a week and meditating. 

“Make sure that you can keep on top of it as much as you can so you’re giving yourself the helping hand that you need, because that’s so important,” he continued.

“It’s the obvious things like food, diet and exercise. But they are so important to somebody with MS, to keep yourself as active and as healthy as you possibly can and give yourself a really good fighting chance.”

He’s a married man.

Phil called himself the “luckiest guy in the world” when he married marrying his iHeartRadio producer, Samantha Clarke, on February 22, 2022.

He announced the union with an Instagram post showing the lovebirds holding their newly minted marriage certificate, captioned, “Officially Mrs Ugly.”

Although, we’ve gotta say, there’s nothing ‘ugly’ about Samantha – or Phil for that matter!

Where can you hear him?

Right now, the radio legend is covering for WSFM’s Jonesy and Amanda with his punny Phil In breakfast show, and he’s bringing in big-name guests like Russell Crowe and Osher Gunsberg. Once that wraps, he’ll be back to his regular 9am to 1pm slot at the same station.

Feature image: Twitter.