Kelly Osbourne reveals why she has 'never explained' gender to her 3-year-old son
Kelly Osbourne has opened up about her decision to completely avoid the concept of gender when raising her young son, Sidney.
The 41-year-old television personality recently moved back to the UK following the tragic death of her dad, Ozzy Osbourne - the iconic Black Sabbath frontman was 76 when he passed in July last year.
Following her split from former Slipknot keyboardist and ex-fiancé Sid Wilson, Kelly swapped Los Angeles for the English countryside - a decision made to give her only child a safer upbringing.
Speaking exclusively to HELLO! magazine, Kelly explained she wanted to escape the terrifying reality of American school gun violence.
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"I don't ever want to have to explain to my son what to do during a gun raid," she said.
"That's the realistic thing that you have to do in schools in America, and to me, that's insanity."
Now comfortably settled in Buckinghamshire, Kelly is raising her three-year-old to explore the world on his own terms - particularly when it comes to labels.
She continued: "I've never explained gender to him – I don't believe it's a concept that a three-year-old boy needs to try to understand.
"You like what you like, and that's it. One day he loves Gabby's Dollhouse, and the next day we're at Rugbytots and he's loving every moment of the physicality and the rough play.
"When he meets someone, he naturally addresses them by how they present. I've never taught him that; he does it on his own. I think that's so special."
As a father of a three-year-old myself, I'm all here for this - I raise my son in the same way, he plays with whatever he wants to play with... but as far as addressing people, I've had to apologise to women that he's accidentally called a man before, but they are only three at the end of the day!
Anyway, it has undeniably been a brutal last 12 months for Kelly - who confessed that it has been the hardest of her entire life.
"I'll never be the person I was before my father died… a part of me died, too," she admitted.
"Everything is different. I'm different. Everything has changed, but it's just taking it one day at a time and putting the pieces back together in a way that you think will work."
While she noted that her life has drastically changed, she went on to credit her close friends, family and even therapy for helping her along the journey.
"It's one foot in front of the other," she explained.
"You've got to fix the head before you can fix the body. It's a slow process. It's going to take me a minute. I'm not going to be fixed in a day. I'm not going to be fixed on one therapy session. This is a lifetime of work I've got to do and continue to do for the rest of my life.
"It's great discovering things about yourself [in therapy], and the reasons why I do certain things that stem from my childhood. You go all the way back and you're like: ‘Oh my god, that's why I do that. That's crazy.’ I'm getting to know myself in a whole new way, but it's a lot more healthy, I can tell you that."
Topics: Parenting, Mental Health, Ozzy Osbourne
Joe Yates