Kelly Osbourne is opening up about her sobriety journey and revealing that she’s been to rehab seven times. The former MTV star took part in TMZ Investigates: Matthew Perry and the Secret Celebrity Drug Ring —a documentary project about stardom and addiction — and she was very candid that it wasn’t always productive in the ways one would hope.
“First rehab I went to was like university on how to be a better drug addict,” Osbourne shared. “I’d learned so many tricks, so many things that I never even thought of from my fellow addicts that were in there.” She added, “I’d also seen people threaten to leave until they got given what they wanted, whether it be Ambien for sleep or Valium for nerves – they would somehow end up getting it.”
Osbourne later went on to claim that rehab facility staff will often prey on addicts to increase their revenue. “They’ll sit outside of AA meetings looking for weak and vulnerable people that they encourage to go and relapse so they can then pick you up again,” she alleged. “I swear on everything that it is true, and it is heartbreaking.”
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Now a mother of one, Osbourne has long been honest about her struggles with addiction. During an appearance on Red Table Talk in 2021, she revealed that her struggles began at age 13, when she was given an opioid medication prescription after undergoing surgery.
“I kept getting sick and I had a really bad case of tonsillitis, they ended up having to give me some crazy surgery, and then after that, they gave me Vicodin,” Osbourne recalled, per PEOPLE. “And that was all I needed.” She continued, “I went from having every voice in my head being like, ‘You’re fat, you’re ugly, you’re not good enough, no one likes you, you don’t deserve this, people only like you because of who your parents are.’ And then all of a sudden, every single voice was silenced and it felt like life gave me a hug.”
Osbourne went on to share that her addiction only got worse, saying, “I was like, ‘Why am I so confident in all of this?’ And then very quickly I went from Vicodin to Percocet, from Percocet to heroin eventually, because it was cheaper.” She also shared with Extra, at the time, that she had a relapse after four years of sobriety, which taught her that it’s a constant fight. “This is something I am going to battle for the rest of my life,” she said. “It’s never going to be easy.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse or addiction, please call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). SAMHSA’s National Helpline is free, confidential and available 24/7.
