'You're never fixed': Kelly Osbourne gets real about drug addiction after Demi Lovato's overdose

Suzy Byrne
·Editor, Yahoo Entertainment

As someone who knows Demi Lovato — and has a history of drug addiction herself — Kelly Osbourne was asked about the “Sober” singer’s overdose during her appearance on Wednesday’s British talk show Loose Women, and had some good insights.

After making it clear that “I will never speak on behalf of Demi,” she talked about her own drug and alcohol addiction, for which she was once committed to a mental health facility. She was adamant that addiction is a lifelong struggle — with setbacks to be expected.

“Relapse is one of the hardest things we face as an open addict who has gone through the program and turned their life around,” the 33-year-old TV host said. “People need to know that rehab doesn’t fix you. It just helps you get yourself on the right track. You’re never fixed. You spend your whole entire life doing everything you can to never pick up and use again.”

Osbourne detailed the depths of her addiction in her book There Is No F***ing Secret: Letters From a Badass Bitch, in which she writes that the only drug she didn’t use was crack. In the interview, she said that when she was in the throes of abuse, she could always get her hands on drugs — even if she was with a sober companion or under the watch of her parents, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne. “If I wanted to get it, I would get it. it has nothing to do with the people around you per se. If you want it, you will get it. And the sad part about addiction is that it doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from… It takes hold of anyone and everyone, if it can.”

Kelly also talked about her rock bottom. It’s not that she lost a job over her addiction, she explained. “I had reached a spiritual low,” Osbourne said. “I was so unbelievably miserable, I didn’t care if I lived anymore or not. … I didn’t care who I woke up next to. I just didn’t care about anything.” One day, she finally recognized the depths of her unhappiness and addiction and turned things around — not without hiccups along the way. She says sobriety is an ongoing daily struggle for her. “Every day, I fight to stay clean,” she added. “I do whatever I have to do to be a better person, because I am so comfortable being numb and numbing myself.”

Osbourne finished by bringing up the “shame” she felt when she was using — and noted that she can’t imagine what Lovato is experiencing, as the world waits to hear more details of what led to her hospitalization on Tuesday. “I can’t imagine what Demi is going through right now — even though I know what it’s like to have the whole world talk about you in your most vulnerable state. I think people just need to show love, pray for her, and let her know it’s OK just get back on track again.”

That last point is what she hopes resonates the most in what she said during the interview. After it aired, she took issue with a tabloid story that she said sensationalized what she had said, with its headline: “Demi Lovato ‘drug overdose’: Kelly Osbourne claims her good friend, 25, will NEVER be ‘cured’ of her addictions following shock relapse.” She wrote on Twitter: “STOP Sensationalizing peoples problems when you should be loving and supporting them!”

Many of Lovato’s other famous friends have shown their support, including her Camp Rock co-stars the Jonas Brothers, Ellen DeGeneres, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and many more.

As for the latest on Lovato’s health status, there has been nothing new from her reps since their statement last night asking for “privacy and not speculation,” and saying that Lovato’s “health and recovery is the most important thing right now.”

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