Kelly Osbourne reveals why she’s cut ties with sister Aimee for good

Kelly Osbourne has opened up about the painful breakdown of her relationship with older sister Aimee — and said she sees no possibility of them ever reconciling.

The 41-year-old has never hidden the fact that she and Aimee, 43, are estranged, previously admitting that the pair simply ‘don’t understand each other.’

But Kelly has now gone further, claiming she felt her sister never properly acknowledged either her or their brother Jack while they were growing up and suggesting Aimee was ‘embarrassed’ by their famous family.

Speaking to Paul C Brunson on the We Need To Talk podcast, Kelly said she has reached a point where she can accept that they are fundamentally different and that she doesn’t want a relationship with her.

‘I respect her, I accept her, but we’re different, and that’s ok,’ she said.

‘If you’re not going to accept me for who I am, and constantly be trying to change me and say horrible things about me, and truly seem to thrive when I’m not doing well, I don’t want you in my life.’

When Brunson asked whether there was any hope that the sisters could eventually repair their relationship, Kelly was unequivocal: ‘No, no.’

Despite that certainty, she admitted the estrangement has left her with a lasting sense of loss. Kelly described herself and Aimee as ‘polar opposites’ and said one of the hardest parts has been feeling as though she never had the older-sister relationship she wanted.

‘I never got a big sister,’ she said, explaining she had been forced to learn certain things on her own that she felt an older sibling ordinarily might have taught her.

‘I do have a resentment there,’ she admitted.

Instead, Kelly said it was always her and younger brother Jack who were close.

‘If I’m honest my older sister didn’t really ever acknowledge me and my brother,’ she claimed. ‘She was just in her own world, doing her own thing.’

Kelly added: ‘I feel as though she was embarrassed of us,’ before clarifying that she meant Aimee appeared embarrassed by ‘the whole family.’

The sisters’ dramatically different attitudes towards fame became apparent long before Kelly found herself navigating adulthood in the public eye.

Aimee, the eldest daughter of Sharon and late Black Sabbath legend Ozzy Osbourne, famously refused to participate in the MTV reality series The Osbournes.

While Kelly and Jack became household names when cameras were invited into the family’s chaotic home life, Aimee moved out aged 16 rather than be filmed.

She later pursued music under the name ARO and has largely maintained a much more private life than her siblings.

Explaining her decision to The Independent previously, Aimee said she had still been trying to work out who she was amid the ‘chaos of family life’ and didn’t want that process broadcast to the world.

She also said she had wanted to protect herself and her family, including her younger and ‘very impressionable’ siblings.

For Kelly, however, the prospect of starring on MTV at 16 initially seemed exciting rather than frightening.

She recalled walking along Venice Beach with Sharon and Jack on the eve of The Osbournes’ premiere, when the enormity of what they had agreed to suddenly began to sink in.

Kelly said her mother asked: ‘Have we just made the biggest mistake of our lives?’ The answer became apparent remarkably quickly.

‘I didn’t even think the show would make me famous,’ Kelly recalled, saying that by the following day paparazzi were waiting outside their home.

The Osbournes ran for four series between 2002 and 2005, transforming the family into reality TV royalty and leaving Kelly with a public persona she has spent much of her adult life trying to outgrow.

She said the family eventually chose to walk away while the programme was still successful because they wanted their lives back.

Now in her 40s, Kelly said she finally feels able to work out what she actually wants from her life, although some people still view her as the outspoken teenager they first encountered on MTV more than two decades ago.

Her fractured relationship with Aimee isn’t limited to the two sisters.

Jack, 40, has also spoken candidly about their distance, saying in an interview recorded shortly before their father’s death that he and Aimee were ‘not close at all’.

Speaking on the Disrespectfully podcast, he suggested Aimee’s decision to avoid The Osbournes was partly connected to her musical ambitions at the time.

According to Jack, his sister wanted to cultivate the sort of mysterious alternative image associated with artists such as Fiona Apple and Mazzy Star and viewed appearing on an MTV reality show as ‘low-hanging fruit.’

He believed the show’s subsequent success then made joining the family on screen even more difficult, because Aimee did not want to appear as though she was suddenly ‘jumping on the bandwagon.’

Asked whether she ever regretted the decision, Jack acknowledged he didn’t know because theirs was not the kind of relationship in which they would discuss it.

Their mother Sharon has previously revealed just how painful Aimee’s departure from the family home was for her.

Speaking on The Talk in 2018, she said her eldest daughter ‘hated the idea’ of growing up in front of cameras and moved out at 16.

‘I regret every day that she did,’ Sharon said. ‘It broke my heart when she moved.’

Despite the long-running tensions within the family, the siblings came together publicly in grief following Ozzy’s death aged 76 in July 2025.

Aimee stepped into the spotlight alongside Kelly, Jack and Sharon as the family attended the rocker’s emotional funeral procession through his hometown of Birmingham, where thousands of fans gathered to pay their respects.

For Kelly, however, that shared loss does not appear to have changed where she stands with her eldest sister.

She told Brunson that her loyalty to her family remains fundamental to who she is, insisting she has ‘never been ashamed’ of the unconventional Osbourne clan.

‘We’re not conventional, but we are honest,’ she said, adding that, like her father, she wears her heart on her sleeve.

‘I am who I am. You can love me or hate me.’