The former Busted star has credited Jack Osbourne with helping him get sober during his alcoholism struggle after he was attacked whilst drunk in New Zealand
Busted star and TV presenter Matt Willis has credited Jack Osbourne with helping him get sober. Jack himself battled alcoholism and has maintained sobriety since 2003 after entering rehab aged just 17.
Matt shared that he had gone out drinking whilst in New Zealand in 2008, and admitted that, at the time, he would drink “from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed”. On this particular night, the star ended up being attacked in a drunken brawl. As a battered and bruised Matt waited at the airport to go home, he started drinking again.
He explained: “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.'”
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He added that when he insisted “everything’s okay”, Jack offered him a place at a rehab centre in Los Angeles, but that this “annoyed” Matt and he rejected the offer.
“And he just sat with me and let say all that b*****t to him,” Matt 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.’
“And I got on the plane back to London instead of going to LA, and then three weeks later I checked myself into rehab. So, he was on the money. It was an amazing thing he did.”
Matt also said that Jack was the “first person” who “saw the b******t I was living in and called it out”. Jack, who recently welcomed a new baby to his family, dealt with both alcohol and drug addiction. He has been open about his battles with addiction, which culminated in a rehab stint when he was 17-years-old, sharing with Variety that he felt his addiction was “inevitable” but fame “sped things up”.
“I think it was just a matter of time,” he said when asked if fame contributed to his alcoholism. “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.”
He added that when he went to rehab, he didn’t think it was even possible” to maintain his sobriety for years but that it got easier after the first year.
When Matt went to rehab, his then girlfriend and now wife, Emma, was away on a work trip. He said that when he was on his own, “that’s when things got really scary and really, really dark”.
Matt and Emma got married three days after he left rehab. He has been sober for several years and explored his sobriety through his 2023 BBC documentary Matt Willis: Fighting Addiction. Critics praised him for his honest portrayal of the impact of addiction, relapse and recovery had on him and his family.
The star admitted on the podcast that despite making amends being part of his recovery, he had never 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.”
If you are struggling with alcohol abuse or addiction, advice and support can be found at alcoholchange.org.uk
Frank offers confidential advice about drugs and addiction (email frank@talktofrank.com, message 82111 or call 0300 123 6600) or the NHS has information about getting help.
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