Kyle Sandilands - Personal Life

Personal Life

On various occasions, including the Enough Rope interview, Sandilands has spoken to the media of his difficult childhood. Growing up in Wynnum, Brisbane, he was deeply affected by his parents' divorce, which happened when he was 10. At 15 his mother and stepfather threw him out of their house after he held a party and damaged their car while they were absent. He never went back, moving between friends' houses and living on the streets. At 17 his father sent him to live in Townsville with his aunt, Jill Stevens. Interviewed in 2005, Stevens recalled for the Sydney Morning Herald that the young Sandilands,

"... used to listen to that Tammy Wynette song D-I-V-O-R-C-E and just cry and cry. He's never gotten over his parents' divorce ... When he was living on the streets, he used to sit outside his father's house at night and watch the lights go out."

On 26 September 2008, Sandilands married pop singer Tamara Jaber and the couple shared a house in St Ives, located in Sydney's Upper North Shore. However, on 12 July 2010 it was reported the couple had split, reportedly as a result of Sandilands loss of A$700,000 annual income as a judge on Australian Idol.