Jackie ‘O’ Henderson shocked listeners on Wednesday morning when she admitted she will break the law to keep smoking menthol cigarettes.

The radio star, 50, was discussing the ‘massive’ federal excise on tobacco  and the resultant huge black market with her co-star – and fellow heavy smoker Kyle Sandilands – when they rang NSW Premier Chris Minns to discuss the matter.

Mr Minns, 45, acknowledged that the excise had made legal cigarettes prohibitively expensive, and forced law-abiding citizens to get involved in criminal activity by buying under-the-counter cheaper products.

‘There’s something I hate about this [excise]. Law-abiding people are being dragged into a black market,’ he said.

‘They go to the store and either buy a $20 packet of illegal cigarettes, or a $60 legal one. It’s just a no-brainer for them.’

Jackie then made the surprising admission that she would also go to the black market so she can continue to get menthol-flavoured smokes, which have been banned under new government laws.

‘I am going [to go black market] because of the menthols ban. You have given me no choice there,’ she told Mr Minns.

Mr Minns then advised Jackie to ‘always follow the law’ when it comes to purchasing tobacco products – adding it was a crime to sell cigarettes on the black market, but not to purchase them.

Jackie ‘O’ Henderson shocked listeners on Wednesday morning when she made a surprising admission about her addiction to menthol cigarettes

The radio star was discussing the ‘massive’ federal excise on tobacco amid concerns of a growing black market with her co-star Kyle Sandilands, when they called NSW Premier Chris Minns (pictured) to discuss the matter

Her surprising admission comes ahead of the NSW budget on June 24, of which Mr Minns said more police resources would be devoted to combating illicit tobacco sales.

That mean re-allocating police away from domestic violence, youth crime and gang cases to regulate tobacco sales and protect their tax revenue.

‘We may need to do that because I’m concerned as a constituent and as a father to see the number of high street premises being taken over by tobacco firms,’ he told reporters on Monday.

‘But I wonder whether we need to roll this back a couple of steps and look more closely at the federal government’s massive excise on tobacco.’

The excise has driven down the number of smokers in NSW to about one in nine adults, the state’s most recent population health survey shows.

‘It’s meant that many people who wouldn’t go near an illegal behaviour ordinarily are buying illicit tobacco almost on a daily basis,’ he said.

He called for the size of the excise and its contribution to black markets and criminality to be investigated.

Jackie previously shared her own personal story with addiction with listeners during The Kyle and Jackie O Show back in October.

Fighting back tears, Jackie shared that she checked into rehab facility the Betty Ford Clinic in California in November 2022, when she took an extended break from The Kyle and Jackie O Show that she previously claimed was due to long Covid.

Known for treating Hollywood stars including Keith Urban, Robert Downey Jr. and Lindsay Lohan, Betty Ford charges anywhere from AU$45,000 to AU$90,000 for a month-long stay.

Jackie revealed on-air that her long-time friend Gemma had been instrumental into getting Jackie into rehab.

The presenter recalled: ‘It came to a head and [Gemma] was such a great friend. She said “I’m sorry Jackie, but you’re not going to taper off this, it will never work. I’m checking you into rehab at the end of the week and we’re going”.’

‘I said “don’t be ridiculous, Gemma like that is such overkill. I don’t have a problem that bad that I need to go to Betty Ford”.’

Jackie made the surprising admission that she was also considering resorting to purchasing cigarettes on the black market, due to the ban on menthol-flavoured tobacco products

‘And she said no, we’re going and we’re doing it and I thank God she did that. I believe she saved my life,’ Jackie admitted.

She said they caught a night flight out of Australia and boarded at the ‘last moment’ to avoid being seen and then jetted over to LA, where Gemma stayed with her for two days before she checked into the Betty Ford Clinic.

At the time, Kyle – who was unaware of Jackie’s drug addiction – told their listeners Jackie was taking a break to ‘focus on her health’ after contracting Covid.

Instead, she was secretly flown out of Australia to be treated for 28 days at the world famous rehab facility for an addiction to painkillers, sleeping pills and alcohol.