The traumatic moment Andrew O'Keefe's life changed forever and sent him into a downward spiral of self-destruction - as troubling new details of his dark past are revealed

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EXCLUSIVE  

Andrew O'Keefe shocked his TV co-stars by embarking on a brazen, drug-fuelled bender at a Logie Awards night barely 72 hours after his 'deeply devout' firebrand father died. 

Daily Mail Australia can reveal the notorious episode - well-known within the industry - marked the start of the self-destructive behaviour that eventually ended the former Seven star's career, marriage and relationship with his children.

Close friends fear the one-time TV golden boy has now descended so far into 'the grip of an addiction he can't beat' he would be better off behind bars for his own safety. 

One concerned colleague, who worked alongside O'Keefe for more than a decade at Seven, said the unravelling entertainer had confided that he harboured a deep-seated resentment against his father right up to his dying days. 

He said O'Keefe - affectionately known as AOK among friends - told him he endured a 'traumatic childhood' and blamed his strict Supreme Court judge dad for failing to support him through his troubles as a young boy.

'AOK told me he had a really f***ed-up childhood,' the colleague told Daily Mail Australia.

'A lot of his trauma relates to the emotional abuse inflicted by his father - there was never anything physical - but he absolutely ignored the pain Andrew was going through.

Andrew O'Keefe arrives at Rose Bay police station on Monday following his latest run-in with the law 

The former Seven star was once TV's golden boy and a regular fixture at the Logie Awards, which he attended, alongside his then wife Eleanor Campbell, in 2012 

Colleagues claim O'Keefe was 'off his head' and 'out of control' at the awards night in 2014 - just three days after his Supreme Court judge dad Barry O'Keefe died in Sydney

'From what he told me, his dad was this deranged Mel Gibson-type religious zealot and he would hold his own private Catholic masses in their home. 

'He never forgave him for neglecting him in his time of need and never learned how to properly deal with all that pent-up rage. 

'Now he's in the grip of an addiction he can't beat, and he's pouring through the money he made [while at Seven] and what he got from the sale of his properties. 

'He's cut many of us out of his life and surrounded himself with a new circle of friends who are happy to get high with him, supply him with drugs and bleed him dry.

'It's f***ing tragic - maybe going to jail will be the best thing for him, I don't know - we're all just really worried about him and how this will all end.'

O'Keefe was at the height of his powers - and raking in about $800,000 a year for his dual roles hosting Seven's hit game show The Chase Australia and the Weekend Sunrise breakfast news program - when his father died on April 24, 2014. 

Barry O'Keefe had been a respected Supreme Court justice for more than a decade in NSW and was an influential member of Australia's Roman Catholic community.

He played a key role in organising the church's response to the findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and remained chairman of the church's Truth, Justice and Healing Council until his death. 

O'Keefe was at the height of his powers - and earning $800,000 a year as the host of Seven's The Chase Australia and Weekend Sunrise - when his father died in 2014 

Barry O'Keefe was a respected former Supreme Court judge and influential figure within Australia's Roman Catholic community

In recognition of his service to the Holy See and Catholic Church, Pope Francis made him a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Gregory the Great two days before he died at the age of 80.

Although Barry O'Keefe was widely revered in the eyes of his local community, the same could not be said for those of his television star son. 

Three days after his father's death, Andrew O'Keefe shocked colleagues by rocking up to the TV Week Logie Awards at Crown casino in Melbourne, where they recall him being 'completely off his head' and 'out of control'.

Daily Mail Australia has spoken with a number of TV personalities who confessed they did drugs with the tortured star that night - though, they were quick to add they had been totally unaware of his already deteriorating mental state at the time. 

'Andrew already had a reputation for being a bit of a party animal by that stage - he was the bloke to see if you wanted to have a good time,' one Seven star said.

'But he was just completely brazen that night - when you went up to him, he opened up his suit jacket unprompted, and pointed to various pockets [containing different drugs], saying, "Well, what do you want?"

'Next thing, we are in the disabled toilets doing lines of coke and MDMA.

'It wasn't a secret - everyone knew what was going on. And it wasn't just me, it was other people from Seven, people from Nine, everywhere. He was the go-to guy.'

O'Keefe and his ex-wife Eleanor in happier times before they eventually split in late 2017

Another Logie attendee, who revealed she had also done drugs with O'Keefe that night, said his behaviour was so overt it had become industry-wide legend.   

'He was really cutting loose - and he was sorting everyone out,' she said.

'It's not like he was dealing drugs or anything, he was just constantly racking stuff up and taking people to the toilets with him.

'But it's TV and it's the Logie Awards - so of course no one's going to say anything.' 

The infamous episode marked the beginning of the end for O'Keefe and, as he started to spiral, it wasn't long before the cracks began to show publicly.

In May 2017, worried viewers noted he looked 'tired and emotional' while fronting Weekend Sunrise's live coverage as convicted Bali drug mule Schapelle Corby returned to Australia. 

The lawyer-turned-TV-presenter appeared to slur his speech throughout the broadcast, slouched in his chair and occasionally burst into random fits of laughter.

At one point, O'Keefe's co-host, Angela Cox, joked his behaviour was 'confusing' her, while at another he was seen blatantly checking his mobile phone during a live cross with one of the program's reporters.

O'Keefe's bizarre behaviour began attracting unwanted public attention in early 2017

By the end of the year, O'Keefe confirmed the inevitable amid growing speculation his bizarre conduct was fuelling tension on the set of Weekend Sunrise.

After 12 years in the hot seat, he was leaving the program - but would remain host of Seven's weeknight game show The Chase Australia.

O'Keefe told viewers he had made the difficult decision to step away from Sunrise so he could spend more time with his 'real family' - then wife Eleanor Campbell and their three children, Barnaby, Rory and Olivia. 

What he did not reveal until much later was that, by that stage, he had already split from the mother of his three children.

Any chance of reconciliation ended the following September after a series of scandalous images of O'Keefe in compromising positions with young women were leaked to the public.

In one video Woman's Day posted online, O'Keefe was seen closing his eyes as he kissed an unnamed 21-year-old student in Hobart, with the magazine claiming it was captured while he had been 'partying for 48 hours'.

The magazine also published photos of O'Keefe posing with a scantily-clad young woman at a separate party in Cairns. 

In one of the photos, the curly-haired woman lifts up her crop top to reveal her breast, while Andrew presses his bare nipple against hers.

O'Keefe told the Herald Sun at the time he felt disappointed and betrayed that the images had been made public.

'I am not the only person in the world who has gone out and had a big night and done things that in the light of day look a little silly, so I don't carry any shame around that at all,' he said.

'But it is embarrassing when your kids have to see that kind of thing, of course it is.'

O'Keefe made the first of his now regular, high-profile court appearances six months later, in March 2019, when he pleaded guilty to driving an unregistered convertible belonging to his estranged wife in Sydney's eastern suburbs. 

The relatively unremarkable charge was overshadowed by his bizarre behaviour outside court where he was accused of swearing and physically lashing out at a photographer. 

At work, his progressively offbeat antics were also coming under scrutiny. 

His TV bosses even stumped up for a security guard chaperone to ferry him to and from ITV studios in Melbourne - and keep him out of trouble - while filming episodes of The Chase Australia; only for one to complain he had caught O'Keefe smoking ice in the back seat. 

Although O'Keefe denied that allegation, Seven ended up paying for him to take an extended leave of absence from The Chase Australia and check into a mental health facility for two months in April 2019 to address his 'emotional exhaustion'.  

After returning to work in June, O'Keefe admitted he had found himself 'questioning what [life] is all about' and hinted that he had been self-medicating with drugs and alcohol.

'In life, we have several choices on how to deal with things, and some people work their way through their pain, or turn to alcohol or drugs or eating,' he said.

'And I feel very lucky that in this country, we have these institutions and the expertise to be able to deal with those things and get on top of it.'

His improved outlook didn't last long. 

Andrew O'Keefe leaves a Sydney rehabilitation clinic after one of his many stints in treatment

In February 2020, Seven was again forced to hit pause on the production of The Chase Australia 'for a couple of months' to give O'Keefe time to deal with his 'health issues'.

Game show colleagues claimed he had been behaving aggressively, turning up late to meetings and having drugs delivered to the studio - all allegations he has denied.  

The following January he was dumped from the program entirely after he was charged over allegations he had slapped, kicked and spat on his new girlfriend during a row about an ice pipe she claimed he was carrying at a friend's party.

Two of the charges were dismissed on mental health grounds - although his lawyers indicated he would have otherwise pleaded guilty to them - while a third assault charge was withdrawn by prosecutors.

Since then, O'Keefe has become a regular fixture at court, spent months in jail on remand, and undergone extensive - and expensive - stints in first-class rehab centres. 

O'Keefe sold off his Art Deco flat in this boutique building in Sydney's Paddington for $731,000

Later the former Seven star also parted with his sprawling North Bondi home for $6million 

O'Keefe previously shared the two-storey home with ex-wife Eleanor and their three children

He was forced to sell his apartment in Sydney's trendy Paddington for $731,000 and later his palatial North Bondi home for $6million to help fund his ongoing treatment.

The 52-year-old now leads a far more modest life, and resides in an 'old school' block of flats in nearby Vaucluse, where he pays $800 a week in rent. 

But friends worry about what will happen when his money - or luck - runs out. 

Their concerns are understandable. 

O'Keefe's hard-partying rock and roll uncle Johnny O'Keefe battled similar demons before dying of a drug overdose in Sydney in October 1978. 

And last Saturday, Andrew O'Keefe almost suffered the same fate after overdosing on heroin in his eastern Sydney apartment. 

Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge says O'Keefe's case is 'absolutely tragic' and 'absolutely sad'

Paramedics managed to save his life before rushing him to St Vincent's Hospital in nearby Darlinghurst in the early hours of the morning. 

After being released, he was arrested and charged with drug possession and breach of bail.  

He was not present in court when his matter was heard on Tuesday and his lawyer did not apply for bail, meaning O'Keefe will have to remain in custody on remand. 

But magistrate Jacqueline Milledge's message to the fallen TV star 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 will spend the next three weeks in custody. 

What happens after that will be decided when he returns to court once more on October 10. 

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