From Reality Show to Real-Life Drama
March 28, 2008— -- The wild success of "The Osbournes" reality show made them Hollywood royalty. They were teens tempted by every pleasure and vice: Jack was the raging younger son, and his sister Kelly the rebellious, pint-size spitfire.
Rock legend Ozzy Osbourne's kids grew up before America's eyes on MTV. What many didn't see was the downward spiral they were taking, walking in the wayward footsteps of their once hard-drinking, drug-using father.
Jack got drunk for the first time on his 13th birthday. One year later, he was on his way to being an addict, adding marijuana and other drugs to the alcohol use. The youngest Osbourne told ABC's Deborah Roberts that the family name and reputation made him feel pressure to behave a certain way. "I felt like it's what I kind of had to do, to a certain degree. It was yeah, I'm a crazy party guy. Look, I'm an Osbourne," he said.
Little by little, Jack began losing control and breaking his own limits. "You find yourself drinking more and more throughout the week. Then, OK., fine, I won't smoke pot in the week -- only on weekends," he recalled. "And then you find that slowly goes out the window… one thing after another, you have no boundaries for yourself."
For Kelly, the prescription painkiller Vicodin offered comfort and an escape from public scrutiny and the self-doubt that tormented a vulnerable teenage girl. "All the voices in my head that were telling me that I was worthless, that I was fat, that I'll always just be someone's daughter and never make anything for myself … all these things in my head, as soon as I took this pill, just silenced," she said. Kelly took her first pill at age 13. By 16, she was an addict.
And fame made everything worse. Like many young Hollywood celebrities, the Osbourne siblings were surrounded by their "entourage" of fairweather friends who Kelly says were usually just along for the ride, often justifying the alcohol and drug abuse.
"I was the way that they got into the club they wanted, and I was their meal ticket," said Kelly. "It's like you surround yourself with people that are doing the same thing as you. So then it doesn't make you feel bad, 'cause then you can say, 'Oh, look, he's doing it too. It can't be that bad.'"
