Kelly Osbourne has revealed she relapsed into drinking after the death of her father, Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne, saying grief left her unable to care for herself. The 41-year-old said she is now eight months sober.
Speaking on Paul C Brunson’s We Need To Talk podcast, Osbourne said she had been sober for more than four years before reaching what she described as “ground zero” following her father’s death last year at the age of 76.
“I was a shell of myself. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t do anything. I was just empty,” she said.
“Broken in every way a human being could possibly be broken and completely unable to even take care of myself. I was at ground zero. I started drinking again. I lost my mind. I couldn’t handle it.”
Osbourne, who has spoken previously about battling drug and alcohol addiction since her teenage years, said she had since regained her sobriety.
“I can honestly say today I’m eight months sober,” she said. “I have the most incredible people around me. I closed my circle because I lost a lot of friends because people don’t like sadness and they expected me to be over it.”
“I will never be over it. I will never ever be over it.”
Kelly Osbourne on addiction and grief
Osbourne said her use of alcohol and drugs had never been about partying, but about trying to escape emotional pain.
“I never did drugs because I wanted a party,” she said. “I never drank because I wanted a party. I just didn’t want to feel the pain.”
She has previously described repeated periods of addiction and recovery, including a relapse in 2021 after almost four years sober. At the time, she said one glass of champagne had quickly led to heavier drinking before she got herself “back on track”.
Osbourne said the difficulties had followed her since she became famous as a teenager on her family’s MTV reality show, The Osbournes. She described struggling with insecurity, self-doubt and the belief that she had not earned her success.
She has since returned to the UK, where she spent much of her childhood before moving with her family to Los Angeles at the age of 13. Osbourne said the move was part of an effort to step back from the wider Osbourne family and rediscover herself.
While saying the decision had not caused a “wedge” between her and her brother Jack, she acknowledged that some relatives had been upset.
“Me living here now and choosing to separate myself a little and kind of rediscover myself, it’s not like it’s caused a wedge between us,” she said.
“But I would say that the family’s a little bit upset that I have decided to go home and figure out me for a while.”
Osbourne, who has a three-year-old son, Sidney, with Slipknot musician Sid Wilson, said motherhood and the death of her father had prompted her to reassess her priorities.
“The girl that I was before my father passed is dead,” she said. “That girl will never come back.”
She added: “I lost not just my father but my best friend, my main protector, my biggest cheerleader, my hero.”
Osbourne said she was now ready to put herself first after years of allowing family expectations to influence her choices.
“I do not think I am ugly. I do not think I am fat. I do not think I am worthless. I know my value. I think it’s now my time to shine,” she said.
