"I wanted to protect myself." Meet Aimee, the Osbourne who refused to have her life broadcast on TV.

Image: Getty.

Here are some things you might know about the Osbourne family: Ozzy was once the lead singer of Black Sabbath, Kelly changes her hair colour more frequently than most of us change our bed sheets, and the four of them starred together on a zany reality TV show called The Osbournes.

Here’s something you might not know about the Osbourne family: There’s actually a fifth Osbourne, and she’s managed to hide from the spotlight all these years. Which is quite an incredible achievement, when you think about it.

It turns out Jack and Kelly have an older sister called Aimee, who refused to have her life broadcast to the world on MTV. When the idea for the show was floated in 2002 Ozzy, Sharon, Jack and Kelly were all keen to be involved, and she was overruled. So when the cameras moved in, Aimee moved out.

"Back then, I still felt I was trying to figure out who I was in the chaos of family life, so why on earth would I want that portrayed on television? I wanted to protect myself, my parents, my siblings, too. They were very young, very impressionable," Aimee, now 32, tells The Independent in a new interview.

"Obviously, I would have liked to stay at home a little longer, but it wasn't to be."

These days, Aimee is working on her music career — she's aiming to release her own songs under the name ARO. In very unsurprising news, she sees herself as more introverted than the rest of her very famous, very boisterous family.

"I suppose I was the one that had to be in control a lot of the time, but then it came naturally. And, for me, watching people get out of control, and be indulgent and dramatic was… well, very silly," she says. (Post continues after gallery.)

Indulgent? Dramatic? Goodness, the Osbournes would never behave that way...

On a more serious note, Aimee has also managed to avoid the pitfalls of fame, including the alcohol and substance abuse issues that have affected both of her siblings.

"When you are already surrounded by that kind of thing, you either surrender fully and accept it as your destiny, or you think to yourself, 'You know what? I'm not going to try that, actually.' Okay, it may have been their thing, but I didn't want to do that. I kept it together, mostly."

However, Aimee grappled with depression after she and her family relocated to the US from England, just before the reality show was conceived of. She subsequently left home, quit school and began exploring treatment and therapy options; reading pop psychology books helped her to make sense of her feelings.

"I'm a psychology nerd; I love to learn about why people behave the way they do, how experiences influence us," she tells The Independent.

Ultimately, she says psychotherapy allowed her to learn forgiveness and acceptance.

Although she's on good terms with her parents these days, Aimee admits she doesn't feel particularly close to Jack and Kelly. "I wouldn't say there is an ease between us, but there is an acceptance. Do we socialise? No," she says.

Did you ever watch The Osbournes? Did you know Aimee existed?