Matt Willis reflects on incredible moment Jack Osbourne helped him get sober
19 March 2026, 16:13
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Matt Willis, the former Busted star and TV presenter, has opened up about the role Jack Osbourne played in helping him achieve sobriety.
Emma Willis's husband recalled a night in 2008 in New Zealand, when he was drinking heavily and admitted: "I would drink from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed."
On this particular occasion, the singer said he ended up being attacked during a drunken brawl in a city centre, and as he waited at the airport to fly home, battered and bruised, he began drinking again.
He described the moment Jack stepped in: "We were in some major city in New Zealand, and I'd been out in the morning, got p**ed and got beaten up in the town centre and came back by police.
"I was at the airport, so I had cuts and bruises all over me. I was drinking in the bar, and Jack came and sat next to me.
"He basically said, 'I see what you're doing, and I know you've got a problem, Matt.'"
Even when Matt insisted "everything's okay," Jack offered him a spot in a Los Angeles rehab centre.
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At the time, Matt rejected the offer, feeling annoyed. "And he just sat with me and let me say all that b*****t to him," he said on the On The Mend podcast.
"He went 'look I've talked to the guy, there's a place for you. You can be in there tomorrow and it's going to be all right.' And I was like 'no mate, no, you're off your head see you later.'"
Matt admitted he didn’t act on the offer immediately, boarding a plane back to London instead.
"And then three weeks later I checked myself into rehab. So, he was on the money. It was an amazing thing he did."
Jack, 40, the son of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, battled alcoholism and drug addiction as a teenager, entering rehab at just 17.
Since 2003, he has remained sober and has become an advocate for mental health and addiction awareness, sharing his experiences publicly to help others facing similar struggles.
Matt reflected on Jack’s importance during his lowest moments, saying he was "the first person who saw the b*****t I was living in and called it out".
Jack, who recently welcomed a baby, has been open about his struggles with both alcohol and drug addiction, which led him to rehab as a teenager.
Ozzy Osbourne's son described his addiction as "inevitable" but accelerated by fame.
"I think it was just a matter of time," Jack said. "I think it just sped things up to the inevitable. Whether I’d never touched a drink until the age of 50, I still think the end result would have been the same.
"I’m one of those people that have an addictive personality, and I like things that change the way I feel."
Matt also revealed the isolation he felt when entering rehab, as his then-girlfriend and now wife, Emma, was away on a work trip. "That's when things got really scary and really, really dark," he said.
The couple married just three days after he left rehab. Matt has since maintained sobriety for several years and explored his journey in the 2023 documentary Matt Willis: Fighting Addiction, which received praise for its candid portrayal of addiction, relapse and recovery.
He admitted on the podcast that although making amends is an essential part of recovery, he has never formally apologised to Emma.
"The one person I need to make amends to the most is Emma. My wife saw me at my darkest and stuck by me."
"What I think people would be surprised about is I didn't make a straightforward amends with her. I didn't go and say, 'I'm sorry,' because I don't know what I would say.
"I don't know if there's enough words to do it justice and I didn't want to not do it justice. I was always like, when I feel like I'm in a good enough place, I'll do it. And when I feel like I'm ready, and I feel like she'll really appreciate it, I will do it.
"As time went on, I was like, actually, I think I'm doing it without having to go and say it."
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