Kelly Osbourne is reflecting on her late father Ozzy Osbourne’s death and the effect the loss had on her mental health.
“I was a shell of myself,” Kelly, 41, said on the Tuesday, September 15, episode of Paul C. Brunson’s “We Need to Talk” podcast. “I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t do anything. I was just empty. Broken in every way a human being could possibly be broken and completely unable to even take care of myself. I was at ground zero.”
The Osbournes alum, who has been candid about her past struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, added that she “started drinking again” after Ozzy’s death at age 76 in July 2025.
“I lost my mind. I couldn’t handle it,” she continued.
Kelly was able to overcome the relapse and is now eight months sober, she revealed on Tuesday’s podcast episode.
“I have the most incredible people around me,” she said. “I closed my circle because I lost a lot of friends because people don’t like sadness, and they expected me to be over it. And I will never be over it. I will never ever be over it.”
Elsewhere in the emotional episode, Kelly recalled Ozzy’s final words to her before he died.
“He sat me down — this was about three days before he died — he sat me down and said, ‘Tots, I need you to know something … No matter what happens in this life, you can live the rest of your life knowing that there was one man on this planet that truly loved you, that truly loved you for every single thing you are. And that man is me,’” she recalled.
Kelly remembered starting to cry and telling her dad, “‘Please don’t talk like this.’”
She continued, “Because he said, ‘You know, I’m not going to be here forever, and I know you struggle with people and believing you are loved. But I love you more than anyone.’ Three days later, he was gone.”
Ozzy died of a heart attack and cardiac arrest, with coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s disease with autonomic dysfunction as contributing factors. (Ozzy revealed his battle with Parkinson’s in 2020.)
Weeks before his death, Ozzy performed for the final time with Black Sabbath in his hometown of Birmingham, England. Kelly recalled on Tuesday that doctors had warned the heavy metal legend against participating in the concert.
“All he wanted before leaving this planet was one last show, one more time,” she explained. “To be able to let his fans know how grateful he was for the life they allowed him to have and how much he loved them and to say goodbye. And my mom [Sharon Osbourne] worked her ass off to make that happen.”
Kelly concluded, “He got to say goodbye, and he got to say thank you. That’s all he wanted to do. And then he let go. Two weeks after. They told him, ‘If you do this show, you’ll die.’ And he chose to do it anyway, because it meant more to him than anything. He was suffering so much. His day-to-day life was insufferable. Nobody should have to live like that. To be in so much pain and be unable to walk, and your mind is there, but your body just doesn’t work.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
