Kelly Osbourne, the 39-year-old singer and television personality, has opened up about her turbulent journey with addiction, revealing that her first stint in rehab did more harm than good. In an eye-opening interview for the special TMZ Investigates: Matthew Perry & The Secret Celebrity Drug Ring, Osbourne candidly shared how, at 19, her initial experience with rehab actually worsened her addiction rather than helping her get clean.
“The first rehab I went to was like a university on how to be a better drug addict,” Osbourne admitted. Far from offering a pathway to sobriety, she explained that her time in rehab introduced her to new ways to abuse substances. “I learned so many tricks, things I hadn’t even thought of, from other addicts. And I saw people manipulate the system—threatening to leave unless they were given what they wanted, whether it was Ambien to sleep or Valium to calm their nerves. They always ended up getting it.”
Kelly’s battle with addiction began much earlier than her first trip to rehab. At the age of 13, after undergoing a routine tonsillectomy, she was prescribed opioids to manage the pain, sparking her dependence on the powerful drugs. Over the next two decades, she would cycle in and out of rehab facilities seven times, each attempt a painful chapter in her long struggle to reclaim control over her life.
One particularly dark aspect of her recovery journey, Kelly revealed, was the presence of “body brokers” lurking outside AA and NA meetings. These predatory individuals target vulnerable addicts, encouraging them to relapse so they can be taken back into the rehab system, exploiting the very people who are trying to get better. “They’ll sit outside of AA meetings, waiting for weak and vulnerable people,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking, but I swear it’s true.”
In 2021, after four years of sobriety, Osbourne suffered a relapse—a painful setback she openly discussed with her followers on social media. “This is a little hard for me to talk about,” she wrote, “but I’ve always promised to be honest with you about my recovery journey. I relapsed. Not proud of it. But I’m back on track.”
Now a mother to her two-year-old son, Sidney, Osbourne continues her recovery with renewed focus, her openness about her struggles serving as a reminder that the path to sobriety is rarely a straight line.