In a remarkable twist of fate, Channel Seven presenter Angela Cox has found herself presenting a news report on the sad downfall of her former co-host, Andrew O’Keefe.
Introducing a report covering O’Keefe’s chaotic appearance at Rose Bay police station on Monday and subsequent court hearing on Tuesday, Cox delivered a blunt summary of her former co-star’s plight.
‘Andrew O’Keefe has been told he’s lucky to be alive and that jail is the best place for him if he wants to stay alive,’ she told viewers.
‘The former TV presenter was given the harsh slapdown by a magistrate as he faced court – yet again – just days after overdosing on heroin.’
The extraordinary flip from starring alongside O’Keefe to reporting on his life-or-death struggle comes after Daily Mail Australia rediscovered vision of the pair presenting Weekend Sunrise back in 2017.
In the unearthed video it was clear there was a problem the moment O’Keefe slid onto the presenters’ couch for what was the show’s biggest broadcast of the year.
There was something not quite right about the long-standing host.
At first, the show’s producers were concerned about the odd way he was slouching and how he appeared somewhat dazed and confused.
Angela Cox introduced a story on 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 flip from starring alongside O’Keefe to reporting on his life-or-death struggle comes after Daily Mail Australia rediscovered vision of the pair presenting Weekend Sunrise back in 2017 (pictured)
Then he began to speak.
His words were slurred, his comments erratic and off-kilter – and then there were the strange outbursts of unprompted laughter.
It was Saturday, May 28, 2017 and the nation’s long-standing number one news breakfast program was covering the most highly anticipated event of the year.
Almost 12 years to the day since she was convicted of attempting to smuggle 4.2kg of cannabis into Bali, Schapelle Corby was returning to Australia.
The program’s hard-working producers and crew had been plotting every moment of the network’s wall-to-wall coverage for months.
Now it looked like their efforts were about to be overshadowed by the strange behaviour of the show’s star presenter.
At one point during the broadcast, O’Keefe’s co-host Angela Cox admitted his random babbling was ‘confusing’ even her.
Later, he was caught blatantly checking his mobile phone during a live segment with a Weekend Sunrise reporter.
It wasn’t long before the Seven switchboard started lighting up with calls from concerned viewers: ‘Is AOK okay?’ ‘Is he having a stroke?’ ‘He looks “tired and emotional”‘ ‘Is he drunk on-air?’
Concerned viewers were worried about O’Keefe’s unusual antics during the live broadcast
Daily Mail Australia was the first outlet to notice the strange sideshow playing out from Seven’s landmark Martin Place studios in Sydney.
But within minutes of publishing a story about the star’s unusual antics a little after 8am, Seven’s army of spinners had swung into gear.
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 high-profile star’s life was in free fall as he ‘self-medicated’ with drugs and alcohol.
Asked about O’Keefe’s troubling 2017 appearance this week, Seven insiders struggled to pinpoint the occasion.
Not because it was so trivial but because it had become so disturbingly common that year.
‘Slurring his words on-air in 2017? Which time?!’ one senior source replied when queried by Daily Mail Australia.
O’Keefe arrives at Rose Bay police station on Monday where he was charged with drug possession following a shocking heroin overdose at his eastern suburb flat at the weekend
After clocking up a record-breaking 12-year run as Weekend Sunrise presenter, he was stepping down to spend more time with his ‘real family’ – social worker wife Eleanor Campbell and their three children, Barnaby, Rory and Olivia.
This week, he remains behind bars after almost dying in his humble eastern Sydney flat from a heroin overdose.
Paramedics managed to revive the 52-year-old before rushing 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 breach of bail.
O’Keefe was not present in court when his matter was heard on Tuesday and his lawyer did not apply for bail, meaning he would be remanded in custody.
Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge’s message was blunt: ‘He’s lucky to be alive…if he wants to stay alive (staying in jail) is the best thing to do.
‘God help him, and it’s a shame he doesn’t have an epiphany.’
O’Keefe has plenty of time to consider his tragic trajectory over the next three weeks before returning to court once more on October 10.