How Jack Osbourne Advocates for MS Awareness

Jack Osbourne, a TV personality and host of The Osbournes Podcast, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2012 at age 26, just three weeks after the birth of his oldest daughter, Pearl.

MS is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that impacts the way the body and brain communicate. There is no cure, but certain treatments may help manage symptoms and slow its progression.

How Osbourne Eventually Reached a Diagnosis

After losing vision in his right eye, which he later learned was due to optic neuritis, Osbourne went to an eye doctor for advice. That was the beginning of a series of trips to specialists, which eventually led to his diagnosis.

“The eye doctor sent me to the ER, and the ER was like, ‘We need an MRI,’ and then spinal taps and blood work and talking with neurologists,” Osbourne says. “Come to find out, that wasn’t my first exacerbation. About 18 months prior, my legs had gone numb, and it was all connected to the same thing.”

Indeed, that “thing” was MS, as both vision loss and numbness are early symptoms of the disease.

Why Osbourne Felt a ‘Weird Obligation’ to Speak Out

While many people choose to keep a diagnosis of MS private, Osbourne decided to go public about it.

“I felt a weird obligation,” says Osbourne. “I’m in the public eye, and I thought it would really benefit people” if MS were talked about a bit more.

After all, he continues, “MS is very common and a lot more common than people think,” but “a lot of people who are younger are nervous to let people know about it because of the stigma that comes along with it. I know a few people who keep it on the DL.”

Debunking the Misconception That MS Looks the Same for All People

In reflecting on what he’s learned about living with the disease since his diagnosis, Osbourne points to the way ongoing research results are improving treatment options. “The thing that stands out to me the most is how quickly things are progressing, in the sense of what they told me the first day I got diagnosed to where we are now. It’s almost a different landscape,” he says.

For example, take the current recommendations around diet and exercise for managing MS. “I was told there’s no real value to diet change, and now we know that there is,” Osbourne says. “I was told there’s no significant benefit to exerting yourself through exercise, and now a lot of people will say the opposite, that having an exercise routine is really beneficial.” He says doing high-intensity CrossFit workouts “works and makes me feel good.”

Despite the scientific advancements that are improving treatment options for MS, Osbourne says public perception of the disease remains mired in old ideas.

“The most common misconception is that people think you’re not so able-bodied when you have MS,” says Osbourne. “Either that, or they’ll assume you’re fine because you’re not in a wheelchair.”

Ultimately, MS doesn’t necessarily look the same for any two people who live with the disease. “I like to say that MS is as unique to the individual as their own fingerprint,” Osbourne says. “Don’t just lump everyone under the umbrella of ‘this is MS,’ because it really is so different for everyone.”

Different Treatment Options Work Well for Various People

Understanding the way your specific MS affects you is helpful for pinpointing the most effective treatments that may improve your daily life. For Osbourne, during his 2013 appearance on Dancing With the Stars — the year following his diagnosis — he identified key symptoms he’d need to manage.

Although he’d never danced previously, he and partner Cheryl Burke managed to place third. The effort came at a cost, however.

“I actually got really pretty symptomatic during Dancing With the Stars,” he says. “I hid it well, but I was having really bad problems with fatigue and balance, and I started [having] tingling up my arms and legs.”

Of all MS symptoms, Osbourne says fatigue remains his biggest enemy. “There have been times I’ve had to pull my car over and take a nap in a parking lot,” he says. “And I still get the occasional tingling in my arms and legs. But by and large I’m doing okay.”

Based on his own experience, Osbourne offers this advice to those more recently diagnosed: “You’ve got to experiment to find out what your new baseline is. There’s going to be trial and error at first. It’s going to take a bit of time to figure out what you can do and what you can’t do, and to determine how to do the things you want to do.”

Mental Health and MS: The Importance of Finding Support

Although Osbourne is doing well physically, he’s not immune to the anxiety that often accompanies MS. “A lot of the challenge of living with MS is fear, the mental health aspect of it,” he says. “Worrying if a symptom is being caused by MS.”

He shares this example: “I had this thing the other day where I lost a bit of hearing in my ear for three days. It turns out I just slept funny, but I was completely sweating it, wondering, ‘Is MS affecting the nerves in my ear now? Am I going to lose my hearing? What is this going to mean?’”

Osbourne adds, one of “the most commonly shared symptoms of MS is depression; that is the through line of most people living with the disease. It’s the least sexy thing to get spoken about with regard to MS, but in my experience, it’s probably the most important.”

That’s why, he says, “it’s really important to have a system in place to combat it the best you can, because that takes more people out of the picture than anything these days.”