Kelly Osbourne has weighed in after her brother Jack confessed on I’m A Celebrity that he found life in The Osbournes tougher than anyone realised.
Jack opened up to his fellow campmates – including Ruby Wax – about the chaos and pressure that came with the height of his MTV fame.
He revealed that the hit reality series, which charted the daily madness of life with dad Ozzy, mum Sharon and Kelly, was originally meant to last just three years. Instead, the cameras kept rolling for another four, dragging the family deeper into a spotlight none of them expected to endure for so long.
Jack struggled with the ‘attention’ The Osbournes brought his family
Jack Osbourne’s sister Kelly has reacted to his comments about The Osbournes in I’m A Celebrity (Credit: Alex Oliveira/startraksphoto.com)
He confessed to struggling with the huge fame the pioneering reality series brought and touched upon his drug and alcohol addiction as a teenager.
Jack admitted: “The filming never really bothered me, it was the result of the filming that bothered me. A huge amount of attention. I was always pretty shy and pretty private.”
He continued: “It was really odd. It was not a lot of structure and too much abundance and freedom. When you give a 16-year-old kid a (bleep) tonne of money and not a lot of rules in LA, you’re like, ‘Let’s go play’.”
Jack told Ruby, Martin Kemp, Angry Ginge and Alex Scott that he became addicted to ” lot of pills, a lot of alcohol a lot of weed”. He said he got sober at an adolescent treatment centre in California at 17 and has “never relapsed”.
Jack Osbourne’s sister Kelly reacts to his camp confession
Jack’s sister Kelly lives on a farm in Iowa, America, with her fiancé Sid Wilson and their son. But she is still keeping up with her brother’s antics in the I’m A Celebrity jungle.
Taking to Instagram, she has now shared a clip of Jack talking to his fellow campmates about The Osbournes.
Kelly wrote alongside it: “I am beyond proud of my brother! I love him so much!”
Both Kelly and Jack were just teenagers when The Osbournes burst onto MTV in 2002. Kelly was 17 and Jack just 16. Their old sister, Aimee, declined to take part.
Jack and Kelly were teenagers when they found fame on The Osbournes (Credit: Sol Jones/INFphoto.com)
The reality show ran until 2006 and it was wild, foul-mouthed and outrageous. It also paved the way for all the reality shows that have followed it.
Speaking in the Bush Telegraph last night, Ruby said: “The Osbournes were the first touch we ever saw of reality TV, where you actually followed that family around.
“It was just the most exciting TV you ever saw. And that was way before any other reality show.”
Ruby added: “I think he’s great being so honest about being an addict. I can’t put together the kid on that show and what we are seeing now. He seems a really mature kind of straight guy. You’ve got to be affected by that kind of fame.”
Jack’s comments about The Osbournes comes days after he got emotional in camp while speaking about his dad Ozzy, who died in July.
Jack spoke about his addiction struggles to the camp (Credit: ITV)
Where does Jack live now?
Jack is now happily settled with his second wife, Aree Gearhart. He shares three children with his ex-wife Lisa Stelly, and he and Aree have one little one together.
And just like Kelly, the I’m A Celebrity favourite has swapped the glare of Hollywood for something far more peaceful. These days he’s tucked away on Welder’s Ranch in Idaho – a sprawling 133-acre haven where life moves at a very different pace.
Suddenly his impressive campfire skills in the jungle make perfect sense!
Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFixand let us know if you remember watching I’m A Celebrity star Jack and Kelly on their family reality show The Osbournes?
