Radio legend John Laws is looking after his longtime personal assistant from beyond the grave by wiping what remained of a $600,000 loan he gave her to buy an apartment.

Laws left almost the entirety of his multimillion-dollar estate to be split equally among his five children and four stepchildren but made special provision in his will for Jodee Borgo.

Ms Borgo was Laws’s ‘queen handmaiden’ – his chief organiser, gatekeeper and protector for 30 years until the broadcasting giant died aged 90 in November.

After Laws’s beloved wife Caroline died in February 2020, Ms Borgo became even more important to her boss as his chief confidant.

A copy of Laws’s will obtained by the Daily Mail shows the man known as ‘Golden Tonsils’ wanted to repay Ms Borgo’s decades of loyalty and dedication.

Property records show Ms Borgo bought a three-bedroom unit at Double Bay in Sydney’s eastern suburbs for $1,060,000 in October 2002.

Laws left Ms Borgo ‘such amount as shall be sufficient to satisfy the balance of the debt owing by her to me in respect of her apartment with such advance having originally been $600,000’.

‘I declare that this gift to her is in recognition of her ongoing care, assistance and friendship to my late wife and myself,’ Laws wrote.

Radio legend John Laws is looking after his longtime personal assistant from beyond the grave by wiping what remained of a $600,000 loan he gave her to buy an apartment. Laws and Ms Borgo are pictured in 2024

Laws (left) left almost the entirety of his multimillion-dollar estate to be split equally among his five children and four stepchildren but made special provision in his will for Jodee Borgo (right)

The will further stipulated that Ms Borgo’s debt over the Double Bay unit be forgiven ‘in priority to the other bequests referred to in this clause’.

That clause included $500,000 payments to each of Laws’s four sons, one daughter and Caroline’s four daughters from an earlier marriage.

The nine children and stepchildren are also the equal beneficiaries of the vast majority of the remainder of Laws’s estate.

Laws has two sons from his first marriage to Sonia Zlotkowski – Richard (known as Brett) and Luke. His second marriage to Yvonne Helstrom-Roux produced sons Joshua and Samuel and daughter Sarah.

When Laws married Caroline Hagon in 1976 she brought daughters Gabrielle, Georgina, Nichola and Susan into their home.

At the time of the wedding their children’s respective ages were: Brett, 17, Luke, 14, Joshua, 10, Samuel, six, Sarah, four, Gabrielle, 17, twins Georgina and Nichola, 15, and Susan, four.

Ms Borgo began working for Laws about 1995 when he was on his fourth stint at 2UE.

She stayed with him during his four-year ‘retirement’ from 2007 and was still by his side when he went back on air at 2SM in 2011.

After Laws’s beloved wife Caroline died in 2020, Ms Borgo became even more important to her boss as his chief confidant. Laws is pictured with Caroline

Josh Laws was one of three children from his father’s marriage to Yvonne Helstrom-Roux. He is pictured with onetime Sydney ‘it girl’ Manon Youdale

Read More Reunited with his ‘Princess’ at last: How John Laws was profoundly affected by wife death

The day Laws left the 2SM studio for the last time in November 2024 he took time to thank Ms Borgo on air for her role helping him maintain a radio career that began in 1953.

In a 2013 profile on Laws for The Weekend Australian Magazine, Ms Borgo described the talkback titan as a ‘very good boss’ and said she had become part of his family.

Laws made his final will in September 2022, naming Ms Borgo as an executor and trustee along with his solicitor James Harrowell and accountant William Shorrock.

The will does not put a value on Laws’s estate but it was estimated 20 years ago he had a personal wealth of $100million.

Laws left a generous gift of nine paintings and an ink drawing to the Art Gallery of NSW which he hoped would be displayed as The John and Caroline Laws Collection.

The bequest included four works by John Peter Russell, two by Rupert Bunny and one each by Brett Whiteley and John Glover.

‘I note that before my wife’s death, my wife and I had acquired during our marriage a very substantial collection of furniture, paintings, sculpture, carpets, porcelain, watches, jewellery, library and valuable works of art,’ Laws wrote.

Those assets were itemised in Laws’s home contents insurance policy and referred to in his will as ‘the Collection’.

A copy of Laws’s will obtained by the Daily Mail shows the man known as ‘Golden Tonsils’ wanted to repay Ms Borgo’s decades of dedication and loyalty

Apart from the ten works Laws left to the Art Gallery of NSW, any item in ‘the Collection’ valued at more than $50,000 was to be spread among other galleries at his trustee’s discretion.

Works worth less than $10,000 were to be distributed by Laws’s trustees to his children and stepchildren.

‘Various items of my motor cars, part of the Collection and other personal possessions’ were left as gifts in a separate list which was not part of the will.

There was no specific mention of who would get Laws’s famed golden microphone.

Proceeds from the sale of Laws’s apartment on the Finger Wharf at Woolloomooloo, his cars, shares, investments and superannuation were to be paid into the John Laws Trust and shared equally among his children and stepchildren.

He left $150,000 to his sister Jennifer Harris and waived any personal debts owed to him by the will’s beneficiaries.

Laws had been offloading real estate in the years before his death and over the course of his career amassed considerable riches.

He reportedly earned $11.6million in one year during his peak in the 1990s when he was among the highest-paid radio presenters in the world.

There was no specific mention in Laws’s will of who would get his famed golden microphone. The microphone was attached to Laws’s coffin at his funeral

Laws never hid his wealth or extravagant lifestyle, indulging his love of regular European vacations, daily fine dining and a fleet of luxury cars.

In 1985 Laws signed a contract with 2GB that was worth $2million a year. Five years later, after being lured back to 2UE, he was on $3million.

On top of that, Laws was earning $1million for on-air endorsements as well as a rumoured $2million for other work from advertisers including Mortein, Valvoline and Toyota.

In 1990 his fortune was estimated at $40million, some of which came from canny investments in radio.

Laws was one of the original owners of 2DAY FM along with Mike Willesee, Graham Kennedy and Village Roadshow when it began broadcasting in 1980.

His 30 per cent interest cost $150,000 and was sold seven years later for $15million. A minor shareholding in Wollongong’s AM station 2OO was sold about the same time for $2million.

In the 1990s, Laws and Caroline were living in a Woollahra mansion crammed with antiques, paintings and other works of art.

The couple owned a retreat on the Hawkesbury River and entertained powerful friends at their spectacular Cloud Valley estate near Yarramalong on the NSW Central Coast.

Back then, Laws kept 38 cars including a $400,000 Bentley, as well as vehicles that took his fancy such as a Fiat Topolino, a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle and a World War II-era Willys Jeep.

Laws and Caroline bought a bottom-floor apartment on the Finger Wharf at Woolloomooloo for $3million in 2001 and moved out of the Woollahra home which they later sold for $7.7million.

In 2005 the couple added the apartment above theirs for a reported $15million, giving them a combined five bedrooms and five bathrooms with six car spaces. Among their neighbours was Hollywood star Russell Crowe.

By 2006, Laws was on a 10-year contract at 2UE worth about $4million a year and was still raking in millions of dollars more from personal deals.

That year, he sold Cloud Valley for around $6million. (The property, described as one of the most idyllic rural retreats in NSW, changed hands again last year for $20.5million).

Between 2002 and 2006 Laws held a majority share in his favourite eatery, Otto Ristorante on the Finger Wharf, where for 25 years he dined for breakfast and lunch most days.

In October 2016 he put 17 of his vehicles up for sale to ‘make space’ – among them Rolls-Royces, Mercedes-Benzes and Jaguars.

Along with proceeds from the sale of a motor cruiser and number plates, Laws pocketed more than $1.1million from the clearance.

Laws never hid his wealth or extravagant lifestyle, indulging his love of regular European vacations, daily fine dining and a fleet of luxury cars. He is pictured with Russell Crowe and his wife Caroline’s funeral

Laws had bought another Finger Wharf property off the plan for $660,000 in 1997, then added a marine berth for costing $340,000 in 2006. He sold the apartment and mooring in 2018 for $2.9million.

About five years ago Laws offloaded a Woollahra rental for $3.42million, having purchased the property in 1988 for $295,000.

In 2020 Laws was still buying and selling expensive motor vehicles, letting go of his Rolls-Royce Phantom to take the keys of a $500,000 Mercedes Maybach.

In his garage Laws also had two Bentleys, a Rolls-Royce convertible and a Lexus.

Laws sold the lower level of his Finger Wharf home in 2024 for about $12.5million