TV star Andrew O'Keefe — the son of a Supreme Court judge and a rock legend's nephew — has hit rock bottom in segregation at Silverwater jail.
O'Keefe, 50, has had a spectacular fall from grace, and it appears things began to unravel for the former Channel 7 star when he was filmed drunk in a gutter in 2009.
O'Keefe's run-ins with the law continued in 2019 when he fronted court on driving offences.
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The TV star was also accused of assaulting a photographer before things went further downhill.
At one point O'Keefe was a pin-up boy for the anti-domestic violence charity White Ribbon but in January last year he was arrested and charged with assaulting a woman.
The charges were dismissed six months later when a magistrate ruled O'Keefe was bipolar and he was ordered to undergo mental health treatment.
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But two months later, he was arrested again on assault charges and contravening an apprehended violence order.
In January, he was again locked up after being accused of grabbing a 38-year-old woman by the throat, pushing her to the ground and punching and kicking her at his Sydney CBD apartment.
The woman claimed she had to bite him to break free. O'Keefe was also charged with possessing 1.5 grams of cannabis and has been in custody since, awaiting trial.
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The court heard O'Keefe suffers from drug dependency issues, with cocaine and methamphetamine seemingly at the heart of his downfall.
"The damage that ice inflicts on individuals, let alone their family, is just horrific," Professor Gordian Fulde told A Current Affair.
The former director of emergency at St Vincent's Hospital said he's seen far too many ice addicts.
"The action of ice ... is nearly instantly you're addicted," Professor Fulde said.
"It works so quickly ... this incredible high and then a really, really bad coming down."
He said the drug is so addictive it's almost impossible to shake.
"All the patient wants is another hit and that's why you get binges ... people sort of come down Tuesday, they start on Friday and they are trainwrecks," Professor Fulde said.
He said combining methamphetamine with a mental illness creates a "worse than dynamite" mix.
Over the years, O'Keefe has been in and out of rehab clinics and his Channel 7 contract came to an end at the end of 2020.
The Sydney Morning Herald's entertainment writer Andrew Hornery said O'Keefe's downfall had become a tragedy.
"He had the x-factor, he had the personality, the charisma, he was good looking, he had the energy," Hornery said.
"It's an extraordinary story, an extraordinary tale of a superstar who really fell from grace in a very sort of public way.
"I hope personally he can come back for himself, but in terms of what he comes back to, I doubt it will be the career that he had, I doubt we'll ever see Andrew O'Keefe fronting a quiz show ever again."
Last week, O'Keefe's legal team tried to get him freed on bail.
They took the application all the way to the NSW Supreme Court and he appeared on a video link from a room in Silverwater jail.
Barrister Arjun Chhabra told the court O'Keefe had previously loaned the woman at the centre of the allegations $20,000 and she asked for more money to set up a flower business.
When O'Keefe refused, he claims the woman grabbed a cricket bat and scissors and attacked him.
He has denied the charges.
O'Keefe's legal team claims the former game show host is being bullied by jail guards, not being provided with suitable medication and is in a cell surrounded by warring bikie gang members.
The prosecution argued O'Keefe had an ongoing ice addiction and had admitted to using cocaine for many years.
"The problem is, a long standing substance abuse disorder like that, having moved from cocaine to ice, is a very serious matter,'' Justice Robertson Wright said.
"It appears that the applicant's drug use, and particularly his use of crystal methamphetamine, has contributed to his offending."
While O'Keefe had secured a spot at an exclusive Sydney clinic for a three-week stay, the judge felt six months would be more appropriate and he was refused bail.
O'Keefe will face hearings in June and July, but he may yet make another bail application.
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