Jack Osbourne

Jack Osbourne was an American TV host and producer who was born into the first family of heavy metal and experienced the head-trip of reality TV fame at a young age, along with all of its trials and tribulations, before transforming into a relatively healthy and well-adjusted adult who managed to remain a familiar face in the world of reality television. Born in St. John's Wood, London, Osborne was the third child and first son born to Ozzy Osbourne, lead singer of Black Sabbath and all-around heavy metal icon, and his wife Sharon, a well-respected and much-feared music manager. For the first eleven years of his life, the Osbourne family mostly resided in Buckinghamshire, before moving to Beverly Hills in 1996. Despite his family's itinerant lifestyle, and his own diagnosis of ADHD and dyslexia as a child, Osbourne would later say his childhood was a happy and stable one. Everything changed, however, in 2002, when MTV began airing "The Osbournes" (MTV, 2002-05). An instant reality TV classic which gleefully followed the everyday banalities of the first family of heavy metal, with Sharon as the tough, whip-smart matriarch, Ozzy as the perpetually perplexed paterfamilias, and Kelly and Jack as their constantly bickering offspring (eldest daughter Aimee refused to participate in the series), "The Osbournes" was a groundbreaking, Emmy-winning, star-making zeitgeist machine which spawned a thousand lesser imitators. While it afforded the family a ton of fame (for Jack, this meant appearances in the films "Austin Powers: Goldmember" (2003), and "New York Minute" (2004), as well as the teen drama "Dawson's Creek" (The WB, 1998-2003), plus his own British spinoff series "Union Jack" (Channel 4, 2003)), it also came with a bunch of heavy downsides, especially for Jack. Already a proficient abuser of alcohol and marijuana at the age of fourteen, his partying took a dark turn as the show became more and more popular, turning into a full-blown opioid addiction following his mother's cancer diagnosis. He first went to rehab in 2003, but finally got serious about treatment following a rough breakup which lead to a suicide attempt. While in recovery in Malibu, Osbourne became interested in fitness, taking up t'ai chi and Muay Thai martial arts, which lead to him cohosting the reality series "Celebrity Wrestling: Bring It On!" (ITV2, 2005), appearing in "Extreme Celebrity Detox" (Channel 4, 2005), and eventually landing his own series, "Jack Osbourne: Adrenaline Junkie" (ITV2, 2005-09). From there, Osbourne tried his hand at filmmaking, directing a music video for his father's 2010 single "Life Won't Wait," and then a documentary about his father, "God Bless Ozzy Osbourne" (2011), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The following year, Osborne married his longtime girlfriend, Lisa Stelly, enjoyed the birth of his first daughter, with two more to follow, and landed yet another reality TV gig as host of the paranormal investigation show "Haunted Highway" (Syfy, 2012-13). That same year, however, he was also diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Despite fears of a rapid decline, Osbourne kept busy, appearing as a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars" (ABC, 2005-), and reuniting with his family for the travelogue series "Ozzy and Jack's World Detour" (History Channel, 2016-18). In 2018, Osbourne and Stelly separated after six years of marriage; their divorce was finalized in 2019, just as Osbourne premiered his latest project, another paranormal investigation show, "Portals to Hell" (Travel Channel, 2019-).