Unbreakable: My New Autobiography by Sharon Osbourne Read Free Book Online Page A

left towards the end. I couldn’t be there to watch Kelly pack a bag, be put in a car and taken to the airport. Because that’s what you have to do. You can’t say, well, think about it overnight and we’ll talk tomorrow, because the addict will run. That was exactly what Jack did when we tried to do an intervention on him when he was seventeen. It was at our house in Malibu and he just legged it, dodging the cars on Pacific Coast Highway, not returning till morning.
    I was exhausted, emotionally and physically. My heart felt bruised, just as if I’d been punched. History was repeating itself. An Osbourne was on the skids; only the first names were different.
    The next six weeks were hard. Kelly was officially an adult and so her privacy was sacrosanct. When I called the facility I was given no information. ‘Kelly Osbourne? We have no record of anyone here of that name.’
    Eventually came what’s known as family week, the final six days of the programme. I knew how it worked. I was already a veteran; Jack once, Kelly twice and Ozzy God knows how many times.
    The therapists change, but otherwise it’s the same wherever you are. It’s basically an education in the science of addiction, both for the addict and their family. Nobody drinks or does drugs ‘because they like it’. Usually it’s a screen to hide what’s going on inside. And now science has identified a gene that you have or you don’t have. But having the gene doesn’t mean that you’re doomed. The tools are there. All that’s needed is the will to use them.
    That week was particularly hard for Ozzy, and I know that he was dreading it and not only because he’d been in treatment himself. One of the first things he was told was that Kelly was in there because of him. Not only because the gene can be hereditary, but also because to her addiction was normal behaviour. And if her daddy could be that way and still be successful and accepted by everyone, then why couldn’t she? I knew that it broke his heart that she might be following in his footsteps – he knows how painful and destructive it is. But he finds it hard to verbalise his feelings. He’s much better at writing them.
    Years ago I decided I would never put myself through family week with Ozzy again. I’ve had it. He has the tools, and if he chooses not to use them, well, that’s his problem. God knows, I’ve tried. But for my children – when you’re a mother, you never give up. I will go every time. They have their whole lives in front of them, and anything I can do to make it easier, I will. So there I was again, in family week.
    When I got there, Kelly ran into my arms. She cried, I cried. She apologised for blaming me for everything and for not speaking to me. I understood. What must it be like to grow up in a household where your father is a drunkard? Children learn by example. They had watched him battle with addiction their entire lives. Through it all we’d stuck together. For him, there was no downside. We always took him back; his fans supported him, as did we. His career remained intact. We allowed him to get away with bad and selfish behaviour. We have a co-dependent relationship. As much as he’s addicted to alcohol and drugs, I’m addicted to him.
    That week, Kelly told Ozzy a few home truths. He was shamed but not cowed. He responded with anger and self-loathing. As I say, he finds it hard to articulate verbally, so he says nothing. It is hugely frustrating and disappointing, but I understand it.
    Ozzy’s stance with the children has always been, ‘I’ve always provided for you. I’ve always given you what you’ve wanted. You’ve never gone without.’ And that continues to be his justification. It’s a crock of shit.
    You can walk away from a husband, but you can’t walk away from your children, whatever they have done.
     
    Now Kelly was out on her own and needed time to adjust, to re-evaluate her life. She was lucky. She had her own home and she was