The stunning transformation of Kelly Osbourne

BY LAUREN BAIR

Flaunting that signature rock-n-roll style, tatted-up bombshell rebel Kelly Osbourne is a certified fashion diva of the highest degree. Not just the daughter of Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy, she's matured into a slashie superstar herself with a wide range of talents as an actress, musician, designer, host, dancer, and writer. Not to mention, fitness guru, who's 70 lbs lighter, and fitter than ever!

While she's publicly endured brutal breakups, drug-addiction, and career bombs, Osbourne is no shrinking violet. This star has overcome each and every obstacle, emerging brighter than ever (with the ever-changing hair color to match). She proves that with just a few dedicated changes, you can boost your confidence, health, and your 'tude. Dishing some refreshing honesty and real-talk, she is about to become your coolest BFF.

With her upcoming memoir There's No F***ing Secret due in Spring '17, the cheeky Brit is sure to reveal all the juicy details about her life. But how did she achieve (and maintain!) such an extreme physical transformation? Kelly, c'mon! We gotta know your secret!

MTV's The Osbournes

At just 17, she burst onto the scene as the wild middle child on MTV's reality tour de force, The Osbournes. Showcasing every last angsty bit of herself in front of an international audience, she grew up as part of a family "as full of warmth as they are of weirdness," as The New York Times describes them.

And as MTV's highest rated show to date, we loved it. With that brassy wit, and the bankroll to boot, we couldn't get enough of this badass rocker chick from across the pond.

Ripped fishnets, concert tee, and Docs? Yes please! Charm bracelet and sequined Care Bears dress? Want! The nails, the hair, the makeup, the clothes? Osbourne was teen fashionista candy on a stick, and on the red carpet.

Rolling Stone

On the heels of her newly released solo album Shut Up, her wild-child spirit would earn her a spot in Rolling Stone's "People of the Year" 2002, as a, "…wickedly funny, brutally honest, pint-size, potty-mouthed spitfire." At 18, she was sporting a hairstyle, self-described as, "two haircuts from the Sixties," and she nonchalantly copped to downing cookies and soda on the daily.

Thanks to the extreme stress of shooting the show, the emotional-eater's weight was already fast coming under the critical eye of the media, and she knew it. She said in that same Rolling Stone interview, "a lot of people think I'm really fat," as was evidenced by a New York Times zinger calling her a "…Pudgy would-be singer".

But while her public persona proudly flipped the proverbial bird, her personal life was spiraling deeply out of control.

Drug abuse

Sharon Osbourne was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in July 2002, just months before her daughter turned 19. That news, on top of the relentless pressures of Hollywood, proved too much for the celebrity teen to bear. Constant scrutiny of her weight threw her into a whirlwind of crash dieting, self-loathing, and drug abuse.

In a chat with PEOPLE, Osbourne explained that when she was 13 years old, "I had my tonsils taken out, and they gave me liquid Vicodin." What had begun as prescription opiate use, turned to a dangerous addiction. She wrote in her book Fierce, about reaching a point when she was taking up to 50 Vicodin pills a day. She was walking in the shadowy footsteps of her notorious addict father.

This was rock bottom. She was in trouble.

Rehab

MTV News revealed Osbourne checked into rehab for the first time when she was 19 years old. She would check in twice more, and combined with psychiatric therapy, she kicked the habit for good. In a candid interview with Vogue Italia, she expressed, "Once you become a drug addict, you will always be a drug addict. You will be a drug addict until the day you die. I think about them all the time." With The Osbournes' farewell series finale, and her mother's cancer in remission, Osbourne finally had the chance to focus on her own career aspirations, and living drug-free. And did she ever.

Staying busy

If multitasking had a face, it would be Kelly Osbourne. At 24, and with a renewed sense of purpose, she was crushing it. The multi-talented star took hosting gigs around the world, along with acting roles, radio spots, magazine columns, music writing, theater, film, and TV gigs.

She got engaged to model Luke Worrall in 2008, which she would later break off in 2010, according to PEOPLE. And she even returned as herself, once again, on family reality reboot Osbournes: Reloaded. She appeared to have it all. But something was still missing.

The newly sober icon revealed to Cosmopolitan that she was using food for comfort: "I hated the way I looked but I couldn't mask my self-loathing with pills anymore."

She was even was experiencing fat-shaming from other celebs. On air with Fashion Police in 2011 (via Us Weekly), Osbourne fired off about Christina Aguilera saying, "she called me fat for so many f***ing years." Not one to keep her thoughts a secret, she also shot back at the media, "I took more hell for being fat than I did for being an absolute raging drug addict."

Dancing with the Stars

In 2009, Osbourne joined Dancing With The Stars at age 25. In what would be a serendipitous partnership, she was paired with professional dancer Louis van Amstel. A world-class performer, he was adept at maintaining optimum fitness and health – and in this case, his partner's too!

He was just the inspiration she needed for that real deal #fitspo. Sayonara 20 lbs!

Osbourne and van Amstel snagged third in the finals, but she credits her partner with more than just killer moves. "He made me eat turkey burgers and salads and explained to me that a high-protein, low-carb diet would keep me energized," she said in an interview with Shape. "Then I started losing weight and realized, 'Oh, it's true what they say: diet and exercise really work!' During the show, those grueling dance workouts kept her lean, but once the cameras cut, the weight started to creep back on. Osbourne confided, "I put on 3 or 4 pounds, and I didn't like it one bit."

Hitting the gym

Always a source of inspiration for her daughter, it was Osbourne's mom Sharon to the rescue! She convinced her daughter, then 26 years old, to join her in a regular workout with celeb trainer Sarah Hagaman. The three would strike out on long hikes in the Hollywood Hills a few times a week, to start. After a few months, Osbourne decided to hit the gym. And how did she really feel about it? "I was miserable," she said in a Shape interview. "To get to the gym—when you already don't like yourself—is really hard. So I had to make it fun. I started wearing cute outfits and putting on a little bit of makeup. And as vain as it sounds, it really helped me because eventually I stopped hating the way I looked."

Motivated to work out and check herself out, Osbourne slimmed down another 30 lbs, thanks to her gym-chic strategy for inner confidence!

E!'s Fashion Police

It wasn't long before the fashion world took notice of Osbourne's hard-earned svelte figure, and uniquely polished look. The 26-year-old style-huntress found success as the beloved and blunt host of E!'s Fashion Police in 2010.

She was blazing a trail, and proving that the most important asset a diva can flaunt is solid gold confidence. She told Glamour, "I feel good in my own skin because I've accepted the fact that I'm me. That's what's so great about being alive and being on this planet: everybody's different."

Osbourne also proved she was able to handle difficulties in life, with newfound emotional strength. She would later suffer a 30-second seizure on the set of Fashion Police in March of 2013, according to Entertainment Tonight. And she would break off a second engagement – this time to Matthew Mosshart in 2014. She tweeted, "It's all about perception. Sometimes the bad things that happen in life aren't really bad at all, especially when you learn something from it!"

Healthy living

At 26 years old, she was true inspiration for lasting health and fitness – achieving her target weight of 112 lbs on her petite 5'2" frame. And no, she didn't do it with juice cleanses, brothy soup – or surgery.

She revealed in her Shape interview that a typical day includes six meals, with loads of protein, fresh veggies, and healthy snacks. "The three things I did to really change my diet were: start eating breakfast, drink water instead of soda, and always have a snack in the evening… I don't like 'diet foods'; they make you miserable and don't fill you up. I had to find things I enjoyed eating. Otherwise, I would never have stuck to the plan." And as far as her personal learning curve? "It may have taken me 26 years to figure it out," she said, "but I've finally learned how to do it right."

So how does this firecracker maintain a healthy lifestyle, long term? By being real about it. "I indulge with pizza and cheese—I love brie—and have cookies sometimes," she confessed in the same interview with Shape. "But now, when I'm full? I stop eating!" Osbourne even contributed to Redbook, offering up a fat-blasting 7-minute Workout, and easy ways to burn a few calories even when you're not working out!

Work it

These days, you'll find Osbourne, 32, happily instagramming and tweeting her workouts with famous friends, as well as celeb trainers like Fred Khorshidi. As she well knows, 70 lbs won't just keep themselves off without a little sweat.

A recent insta was all of us, when she captioned a selfie, "One of the best feelings in the world is when… you finish a workout that you never wanted to do! #BestWayToStartYourDay." And you can bet she was looking hot doing it.

Hot tips

Osbourne's got rock solid, down to earth tips on staying fit at 32, as she shared with SELF. In general, she avoids comparing herself to others, focusing instead on the best version of herself. And if she's been craving something like mad (yes, pizza, we see you)? She'll enjoy it for breakfast, and eat lighter the rest of the day. And that bathroom scale? Forget it! Working out all by her lonesome? No way! She always grabs some pals for her workouts. She has even had "plank-offs" with pro athletes. And wins. "My record is 7 1/2 minutes, and I beat a bloody Olympic silver medalist!"

Need an alternative to hitting the clubs? Osbourne hula-hoops with Adam Lambert! "On Saturday nights my friends and I put on ridiculous outfits and hula-hoop and dance when everyone else is at 'da club.' We call it #HipHopAnonymous. Adam Lambert is in it. We live in the same building, and random people show up. The next morning you're like, 'Oh, my God, I'm so sore,' but you had the best night ever," she told SELF in the same interview.

And maybe we should mention that Beyoncé, Pink, and FLOTUS hula, too! According to E! News, these boss ladies know you can burn up to 600 calories per hour with a weighted Hoopnotica!

Becoming an inspiration... to herself

Living a vibrant, sober, and wellness-minded life, 32-year-old Kelly Osbourne is an inspiration for personal style, staying fit, and believing in yourself. Once a smart-mouthed teen girl just trying to find her way, she's transformed into a fiercely strong, confident, (ok, still smart-mouthed), knockout woman – inside and out.

She proves that true results take time and dedication, and that real change comes from within. That lasting transformation is possible for any of us. You just have to know you're worth it. "Ultimately, I'm really glad I lost the weight the way I did," says Osbourne in her Shape interview. "I never thought in a million years I'd be that healthy girl who wakes up every morning to exercise. After being called 'cherubic and chubby,' I'm rocking a bikini! I feel silly, but I think I'm going to cry."

Shining a spotlight on her self-image

In April 2017, Osbourne published a memoir titled, There Is No F*cking Secret: Letters From a Badass Bitch. Her second memoir, There Is No F*cking Secret consists of intimate, entertaining, and revealing letters to people, places, and even certain body parts important to Osbourne (yes, she includes a letter to her vagina). The memoir provides a fascinating look into the star's incredible life, her highest of highs and lowest of lows, and the way her life in the public eye has shaped her perception of herself.

"I genuinely did not know that [being on] The Osbournes would turn me into fair game for the world and the media, who never missed an opportunity to call me fat," Osbourne writes in the chapter of her book titled "Dear You." Later in her tell-all, the star reveals that constantly being in the spotlight caused her to feel the need to begin Botox treatments in her 20s, writing (via Entertainment Weekly), "I had frown lines crosshatching my forehead from squinting into the bright lights to read the monitors, and it gave me raging resting bitch face." Uh, more like badass bitch face, Kelly!

"I had to give myself a chance to heal"

If you're a close follower of Kelly Osbourne's career and life happenings, you probably noticed that 2017 was a relatively low-key year for the star, compared to her many years of being front-and-center in the spotlight. In August 2018, Osbourne took to social media to provide an explanation for her virtual absence from the public eye — her health and sobriety. 

"I had to take a step out of the public eye away from work and give myself a chance to heal and figure out who the f**k I really am without a camera in my face," Osbourne captioned a photo on Instagram which documented the one year anniversary of her sobriety. The former television host revealed she had spent the past year working on her "mind, body, and soul," writing, "I'm finally at peace with myself and truly starting to understand what true happiness is. I'm sorry if I let anyone down, [but] it was just time for me to work on me!" 

The first step to a healthy body is a healthy mindset, and we're happy to see Osbourne making hers a top priority.

SOURCE: THELIST