Kelly Osbourne has opened up about her past struggles with addiction, revealing startling details about her time in rehab. The 39-year-old TV personality, who is now sober, shared her candid thoughts during an interview for TMZ Investigates: Matthew Perry and the Secret Celebrity Drug Ring, which is streaming on Hulu from September 17th.
Osbourne disclosed that her first rehab experience was actually counterproductive, calling it “like university on how to be a better drug addict.” She explained that during her time in rehab, she learned new tricks from fellow addicts that she had never thought of before. “I learned so many things that I never even thought of from my fellow addicts that were in there,” she said.
In addition to her personal experiences, Osbourne revealed the exploitative nature of some rehab centers, claiming that certain facilities would target vulnerable individuals by sending them to AA meetings. The goal, she explained, was to find weak patients, encourage them to relapse, and then pick them up again, bringing them back into rehab. “Rehab centers will send people to AA meetings so they can entice them to do drugs again so they can go back into rehab,” Osbourne said, asserting that this was a true and unfortunate reality.
Kelly Osbourne has long been open about her struggles with addiction. In a 2021 Red Table Talk interview, she shared that her addiction started at the age of 13 when she was prescribed Vicodin after surgery. She recalled how the pain medication offered her temporary relief from negative thoughts, saying, “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’ to suddenly every single voice was silenced, and it felt like life gave me a hug.”
Despite a brief relapse after four years of sobriety, Osbourne celebrated one year of sobriety in May 2022. Reflecting on her journey, she posted on Instagram, “What a difference a year can make. If you would have told me 365 days ago that I would be sober, happy, and about to be a mama, I would have laughed in your face. Life is truly amazing when you do the work.”
