Jackson's drug abuse, alcoholism, and subsequent suicide was as a result of the inner demons caused by his abuse as a kid that he never felt able to talk about. It's a terribly sad story.
Most people here wouldn't know about him but he was a great rugby league player, played for the North Sydney Bears, Queensland and Australia and was carving out a good media career as he was a real character.
Most people at the Hip-E Club that night didn't recognise him either as Perth is an AFL town but being a rugby union player that followed rugby league I picked him out in the crowd straight away. He was off his chops but not in a good way, a lot of people there were off their chops there but just enjoying themselves, he looked like he was on a mission to self destruct.
I didn't think all that much about it at the time but when I heard how he died a few months later I thought back to that night and it all made sense.