Jackie O will not return to the airwaves this week, with The Kyle and Jackie O Show confirming her absence has now been extended following a tense on-air clash with co-host Kyle Sandilands.

The radio star was expected to resume her place on KIIS FM after taking time off to “gather her thoughts” following a public argument on February 20. Instead, listeners were told on-air this morning that her break has doubled in length, deepening questions about the fallout from the exchange.

The confrontation, which unfolded live on air, saw Sandilands criticise Henderson’s recent interest in astrology, telling her she had been “off with the fairies” and “unfocused” at work.

Sandilands mocked Henderson’s time at the Betty Ford Clinic during a discussion about her memoir.

“If I was ever to read a book, I’d read your book,” Sandilands said after Henderson admitted she didn’t watch TV show Australian Idol, on which he serves as a judge.

“Oh yeah, I don’t need to feel bad about it either,” Henderson replied.

“What do you mean?” Sandilands pressed.

“Because you didn’t read my book,” Henderson responded.

Their newsreader Brooklyn Ross interjected: “Aren’t you interested in, like, everything she did in rehab Kyle?”

“No. Is that in (the book)? What’d she do?” Sandilands said, before clapping rhythmically in a singsong voice.

“Clapping and being positive. I’m not into … I’m already happy. I don’t need that. I don’t need some old lady to tell me how to be happy,” Sandilands responded gruffly, later clarifying the “old lady” referred to Betty Ford, not Henderson, and acknowledging it might have sounded “a bit harsh”.

“I’m soft now,” he added.

“Really?” an emotionally sounding Henderson replied, “Are you though? A leopard can’t change its spots really, can he?”

Henderson was reduced to tears during the segment, telling her longtime co-host she could not believe he would deliver that feedback in front of thousands of listeners.

The show continued with little interaction between the pair before it was announced on Monday that Henderson would step away temporarily.

On Wednesday, Sandilands addressed the situation, conceding he regretted the way he handled the criticism.

“I obviously upset her and maybe in hindsight I shouldn’t have said it on the air, but we say a lot of things on the air here,” he said.

“It’s never meant to hurt her feelings and obviously it did, and I regret hurting her feelings. No one wants to hurt someone, especially someone you care for.”

He also rejected suggestions that the dispute had been staged for publicity.

“We don’t put that much effort into anything,” he laughed. “We would never plan something like that.”

Kyle’s unthinkable move after brutal Jackie O attack

On Thursday morning, Sandilands and newsreader Brooklyn Ross briefly acknowledged Henderson’s continued absence at the top of the program.

Sandilands insisted he was as unaware as listeners about what was happening behind the scenes, saying he expected she would return at some stage but suggesting even those managing the situation did not appear to have clarity on the timeline.

Many listeners sided with Henderson following the original clash, questioning the decision to criticise her publicly.

As her time off stretches into a second week, the focus has shifted from the argument itself to the uncertainty surrounding her return, a development that signals the on-air fallout may run deeper than first thought.