Kelly and Ozzy: Osbournes Reloaded
By Fred Topel
Mar 26, 2009
After decades as a heavy metal showman, Ozzy Osbourne opened his family life up to TV cameras in the first celebrity reality show, The Osbournes. Now that everyone from the Hogans to Run-DMC have copied their format, the Osbournes are bringing back another classic TV genre: the variety show.
Osbournes Reloaded puts the family on stage, entertaining studio and home audiences with sketches and performances. They'll cut to pretaped bits including hidden camera stunts (Ozzy working drive-thru fast food for example), a recurring Littlest Osbournes segment (British kids swearing like Ozzy) and clips showing the Obsbournes meeting other families from across the country that share their name.
Ozzy still looks like his old prince of darkness self, dressed in black with long hair and sunglasses even inside a dark Hollywood bar, where a press meet and greet has been arranged to promote the new show. Kelly, having blossomed into a far more elegant version of her former self, now sports a vintage look, with dyed black hair cropped in a bob. (Another thing that's changed is Kelly's dating status, she got engaged to fashion model Luke Worrall in November of last year.)
The Osbournes reloaded premieres March 31 on Fox. SuicideGirls chatted with Ozzy and Kelly to get the inside scoop on the show.
Question: When you thought about doing a second show, did you feel like, "What more could we do on television?"
Ozzy Osbourne: To be honest with you, I never thought about it. Sharon was the driving force behind it. When they first came to me, I said, "I think it's not what we're about." Then Sharon wanted to do it and the kids wanted to do it so I thought, "You know, I'll have a go."
Kelly Osbourne: It's something that we thought, like, "What else could we do?" We started something, a whole generation of TV programming. We don't want to do something unless it's equally as great. So we spent a lot of time and said no to a lot of projects -- until we finally said yes.
OO:
What I've sort of learned from it is when you watch a TV show, it didn't take just a half an hour to make. It took weeks, the work that goes into it. The variety show is truly a variety show in the respect that we're trying a lot of different things: some of what you're familiar with, some that you're not familiar with. Yesterday I was doing green screen work and I was there for 10 hours straight, different costumes, different mics. You know, like Forrest Gump when they put somebody [in the scene], it's that kind of thing.
Q:
How many different things do you do on the show?
KO:
We all do different things. Me and my father do hidden camera stuff where we took over a yoga class. We also took over a drive-through. It's really funny. Jack and I do a challenge. I challenge Jack in every episode. We have one thing where we go around meeting other Osbourne families. What I love the most is the audience participation and the reaction that we get from just filming in studio.
Q:
How did you find the fast food work?
OO:
Not to my liking, to be honest with you. I didn't get involved in the entertainment business to do fast food restaurants. These people really work. One thing I've learned, I try not to complain too much about people who have to do manual jobs that you would never want to do. Who cleans up? Who does dishes? Somebody does that job. I come from a working class background. I've never forgotten that. I've done my share of destroying hotel rooms and all of that stuff. It makes me realize they're still out there and they're still doing them jobs.
Q:
What can you tell us about the other Osbourne families?
KO:
People are people, no matter what your last name is, they've all been just lovely people. They live very different lives from us. One of them is a cowboy, one of them is a UFO hunter and one of them is a farmer.
OO:
Well, the first one we went to was in Dakota somewhere. I think it's quite alarming because I often wondered, when I'm on the road and I'm going around Washington, I go to the military hospital and see the guys who got wounded out there in Iraq and Afghanistan. I often thought, "Where do they get all the soldiers from?" People come from England, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, a lot of big cities, but there's thousands and thousands from smaller towns in this country. You don't think that they exist but they do. When I went to this one in Dakota, I said to the parents, "How many children you got?" They said, "Three. I mean, we've got two and one's in the military." I asked if he's been to Iraq or Afghanistan and she said, "Yeah. Two tour of duties." Don't you ever worry about him getting killed? She went, "Oh no, not for his country." I went whoa. Then she goes, "My kids here got as much chance of getting killed as there." I go, what do you mean? She said, "Well, my daughter the other day had a car crash and she could've got killed." I thought what a weird thing to say. If my kid ever come to me and says, "Dad, I want to go in the army" I wouldn't [let him]. I'd just think he must be mad.
Q:
How have you changed since we last saw you on TV?
KO:
When they first came to us and said, "Do you want to do an MTV show?" I was 15 years old. I'm 24 now. Without being in the public eye and without being famous, you change within those years, as a human, anyway. Those are the shortest, but most difficult years of your whole entire life, and to have to do it, and be judged, in front of the world, I was really insecure. I hated myself, I was massively depressed and I didn't know what I wanted to be. You get stuck very much in the whole, "Oh, you're just a celebrity's daughter." It was my mission to prove to the world that that's not just what I am and that's not just what I'm capable of doing. Yes, that's where I come from, and I'm damn proud of it. I don't want to have any other parents. I'm an Osbourne, through and through, but I had to pay my dues, and I went out there and did it.
Q:
What did you learn from the low points in your life?
KO:
As it says on my arm, "This too shall pass." No matter how hard things get, things will always get better, if you want them to. And, you can't change people. You need to change yourself. There's no one to talk for the way that you are, other than you.
Q:
Do you think that getting married will ground you more?
KO:
I don't know. For me, marriage is just a certificate. As far as I'm concerned, he's the love of my life and that's all that matters.
Q:
What have you learned from your parents' marriage and watching them, since they've been together for so long?
KO:
Marriage is scary. It is through thick and thin. I've learned a lot from them because I've seen how, just because you have one small argument, it doesn't mean divorce.
Q:
[to Ozzy] Do you like Luke Worrell? [Kelly's fashion model fiancé)
OO:
He's a nice guy but you're going to be able to watch what he's doing.
KO:
He and my dad get on very, very well, which I was absolutely amazed with.
Q:
What do you like best about him?
KO:
Everything! It's the best, when you're in love. It's everything.
Q:
Do you still consider yourself the Prince of Darkness?
OO:
I never did in the beginning. That was a name they just gave me.
Q:
You've taken it on though.
OO:
No, I don't take anything too seriously. I'm a lucky guy to be alive. I'm lucky to be able to be doing what I'm doing at my age. I've had a great career in entertainment.
Q:
Kelly, could you describe your new look?
KO:
Me? I don't know. I don't try and be anything other than myself.
Q:
I would call it '50s noir, and that's a compliment.
KO:
Thank you. I think when you're very pale and you have dark hair and a round face, you can't help but always look '50s. I would never say that I was going for it but thank you.
Q:
Who are your style icons?
KO:
I have so many, everyone from Wendy O. Williams to Grace Kelley, Bette Davis and Bettie Paige, may she rest in peace. I look to the old and new. I love Dita Von Teese, but just because I have pale skin and black hair does not mean I want to be her.
Q:
Who are some of your favorite designers right now?
KO:
I love Luella, PPQ and Matthew Williamson. My favorite shoe designer in the whole entire world is Gina.
Q:
Do you prefer shopping in the United States or London?
KO:
London. They have stores like Top Shop, where you get high-fashion clothes that have been knocked off at lower prices. Fashion changes every six months, so it's an affordable way to wear what's in fashion and you don't have to waste tons of money on something you can't wear for very long.
Q:
How does recording fit into your schedule these days?
KO:
It's something that me and my father were recently talking about, and I really do want to do. I have never done it the right way. The first time, I was very aware that it was just a marketing thing. They thought, "She had a great show. We can make money off of her." I hated the album, so I found a way to destroy it. The second album, I loved so much. I worked so hard on it. I felt like I finally found, musically, what direction I wanted to go in, but I ended up being miserable with who I was and went to rehab. I didn't take it where I wanted to go with it, and then the record company went bankrupt, so I just decided to take a break from everything and find out what I really wanted to do. So, now, I definitely want to get back into the recording studio. I'm more grounded, I have the time and I would love to do another album.
Q:
Who are you listening to musically?
OO:
Paul McCartney. I'm still a Beatle fan at heart. I met Paul McCartney a few times. He's a nice guy.
Q:
Do you use an iPod?
OO:
Oh yeah. Finally, after people were going, "Get an iPod, it's got every Beatles song ever recorded." Eventually I got one. Now I just sit there listening to music all day watching war movies on the television.
Q:
How do you feel about having a song in Guitar Hero?
OO:
You know, one of the weirdest things about that video game, I've found that they sell a billion copies of that video game. I thought well, a billion people didn't buy the damn record.
Q:
Are you any good at the game?
OO:
I haven't tried it myself. It's just work.
Q:
Having come from music, how do you feel about your status as a TV star now?
OO:
Oh, I don't know. It's all part of the entertainment business. It's all entertainment at the end of the day. I'm not saying I'm going to abandon my musical thing. I'm writing an album now. We'll see.
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