Kelly Osbourne hopes past substance abuse will protect her from cancer

Kelly Osbourne hopes years of "drugs and alcohol" will protect her against cancer.

The 39-year-old star discussed her family's history with the disease - including her mother Sharon Osbourne's battle with the illness in the early 2000s - and joked being left "pickled" would be one benefit from her past struggles with addiction.

Speaking on 'The Osbournes' podcast, she said: "I'm hoping that I've embalmed myself so I don't ever get cancer.

"I'm pickled from all the drugs and alcohol, for sure."

However, her brother Jack, 38, quipped: "I don't think it works that way. But I'm no doctor."

And their guest, an ER doctor called Dr. Greg, joked: "I, for one, have never heard of substances you put into your body causing ill effects of any kind."

Kelly has been candid about her past issues with substance abuse, which started with an opioid prescription when she was just 13 years old.

Appearing on 'Red Table Talk' in 2021, she said: "I kept getting sick and I had a really bad case of tonsillitis, they ended up having to give me some crazy surgery, and then after that, they gave me Vicodin.

"And that was all I needed... I went from having every voice in my head being like, 'You're fat, you're ugly, you're not good enough, no one likes you, you don't deserve this, people only like you because of who your parents are.'

"And then all of a sudden, every single voice was silenced and it felt like life gave me a hug."

She hew a newfound sense of self confidence, but her drug habit escalated.

She added: "I was like, 'Why am I so confident in all of this?'

"And then very quickly I went from Vicodin to Percocet, from Percocet to heroin eventually, because it was cheaper."

In 2021, she opened up about suffering a brief relapse, admitting she thought after a period of being clean she could "drink like a normal person".

She told Extra: "I am an addict and had thought that I had enough time under my belt and I could drink like a normal person, and it turns out I cannot and I will never be normal.

"I don't know why I even tried it. It's not for me and it took me a matter of days and I was like done, not doing this."

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