Shane Jacobson tells of son’s diagnosis: ‘Took the wind out of my sails’

Australian entertainer Shane Jacobson has opened up about his family in a rare personal interview, revealing how a diagnosis given to his son Jax initially “took the wind out of his sails”.

Speaking on The Imperfects Podcast, the star explained how Jax – the youngest of Shane’s four children – is autistic, has ADHD and has recently been diagnosed with Tourette’s, leading Jax to humorously declare, “I’ve got the Premium Package, Dad”.

Sharing details of the diagnosis, the 56-year-old made it clear that he sees the “ joy and the genius” of his son’s individuality, but also explained that it was his wife, Felicity, who first spotted the signs when Jax was aged three.

“I saw none of this, right? None of it, none, none. She’s the one that goes, ‘oh, you know, I think there’s something going on there’. 

“So we went to get him diagnosed. I’m like, ‘There’s nothing wrong with that kid’, all that kind of stuff.’

“And it comes back, and he’s autistic. And it did, it took the wind out of my sails,” Shane admitted. “But I just don’t know what boat I thought I was on and what ocean I thought I was sailing. Like, why did it take the wind out of my [sails]? Who said it was a sailboat? What if he just swapped? 

“As it turned out, he f**king swapped the sails for a motor. That was the day I found out my kid was extraordinary.”

Sharing more about his son’s incredible abilities, Shane revealed how he’s amazed when he watches him play.

“I’ve seen him outside for an hour. I don’t know what’s going on, but he’s shooting stuff out of his hands, and he’s seeing stuff. He’s in bliss, Nirvana. He’s in a world so much greater than the sh*t world we’re trapped in,” the star said.

“And the amount of times I’ve said to my wife, what is he saying when he comes in and describes it? It’s f**king Disneyland. 

“His f**king eyes are a movie cinema where every now and then when he’s got scenes happening in his head, every now and then we’d hear, ‘boom’, this big ‘boom’.”

When this happened, Jax explained he had been making a movie in his head.

“I’m like, ‘What’s the jumping?’,” Shane said.  “And he said, ‘Ah, that’s the edit point’. And I’m like, ‘Man, he’s editing the film in his head’.”